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I
BODLEIAN LIBRARY
Thrpfiof
Miss Emma E 1. Dumton
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THK
PICTORIAL HISTORY
OF THE
COUNTY OF LANCASTER:
WITH
ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY ILLUSTRATIONS
AND A MAP.
TIME-HONOURED LANCASTER.
shakrpeark.
LONDON :
GEORGE ROUTLEDQE, 36, SOHO SQUARE.
MDCCCXLIV.
LONDON :
PRIXTRD BY MANNIMG AND BIAION, IVY LAfcl
PATKRNORTKR ROW.
PREFACE.
The description of the County of Lancaster will be found completed in the
present volume in as concise a manner as possible for a district so rich,
extensive, and important in its manufacturing relations. As an illustrated
work, it will impart a correct idea of not a few interesting objects, particularly
of the relics of many of the dwellings of our ancestors in that part of England,
which have not until now been presented to the reader. Some of these
habitations belonging to the olden time have been sketched in their existing
state, which is one of rapidly increasing decay. Others there are upon which
time has less prominently set his seal; but which, as many before them have
been, may soon be annihilated by the march of improvement or the more
pressing demands of manufacturing necessity. The reader will therefore
not beUeve it a disadvantage, nor an unworthy reflection upon the pages
of the present work, if, in the many portraits of what it has thus included,
some are found which have already disappeared for ever.
Tlie assistance which the Editor has received in completing the present
volume^ demands due acknowledgment. The details respecting the cotton
manufacture^ with the account of Manchester — excepting of the Collegiate
Church, — the mode of glass-making, and the process followed in forging chain
cables,* are by Dr. W. C. Taylor. For the faithful sketches of the hundreds
of Salford and Blackburn, more particularly — thus dividing with himself the
heavier part of his task — the Editor is indebted to Dr. Beard of Manchester,
not previously unknown in topographical literature. Various county and local
publications constdted, have for the most part been acknowledged in the
pages where the information obtained is to be found.
It only remains that the Editor solicit indidgence towards any defects
which the local critic may discover in this work.
* Commencing nt page 4; ib. 89; ib, \i\\.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
NO.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
SUBJECT.
Map op Lancashire
Pendle Hill .....
Patricroft .....
The Exchange, Manchester .
Blowing Fan ....
Laffino Machine ....
Hand Cards ....
Carding Machine ....
Doffing Cylinder
First Drawing ....
Roving ......
Bobbin and Fly Frame .
Bobbins performing
Delivering Finger ....
Mule Room .....
Warping Machine ....
Dressing and Pasting Engine
Common Loom ....
Reed ......
Common Shuttle ....
Heald and Reed Work
Drawing-in .....
Power -Loom Room
The Hoist
Victoria Bridge* Manchester
Nat. Hist. Society's Hall, Manchester
Town Hall, Manchester
Apparatus for Moving Bobbins
The Dash Wheel ....
Calendering ....
Blind Asylum & Deap & Dumb School
Chetham College ....
Collegiate Church
Interior op Collegiate Church
Calico Printing ....
Lane's Net Patterns
Embroidery Machine
The Athenjeum, Manchester .
Manchester Infirmary & Lunatic Asy
HuLME Hall
Clayton Hall ....
Fairfield ......
AsHTON Town Hall
Warrington Market-Place
Fustian Cutter ....
Sankby Viaduct ....
Worsley Hall ....
St. Helen b • . . . .
Seal of the Plate Glass Company, 1773
Ditto, 1798
Ravenhbad Glass Works .
Interior op Ditto
Casting Glass .....
Silvering Table . . ' .
Entrance to Railway at Liverpool
DRAWN BY
■ ■
Sargent
Sargent
Sargent
Sly .
Sly
Sly .
Sly .
Sly .
Sly
Sly .
Sly
Sly .
Sly
Sly .
Sly
Sly .
Sly
Sly .
Sly
Sly .
Sly
Sly .
Sly .
Sargent
Sargent
Sargent
Sly
Sly .
Sly .
Sargent
Sargent
Sargent
Sargent
Sly .
Sly
Sly .
Sargent
Sargent
Sargent
Sly .
Sly .
Sly .
Sly
Sly .
Sly
Sly .
Franklin
Fairholt
Fairholt
AneUiy
Franklin
Anelay
Sly .
Franklin
KNCRAYKn BY
Armstrong
Evans
Evans
Sly
Sly
Sly
Sly
Sly
Sly
Sly
Sly
Sly
Sly
Sly
Sly
Sly
Sly
Sly
Sly
Sly
Sly
Sly
Sly
^'ichoUs
Evans
Wakefield
Sly
Sly
Sly
NickolU
Evans
Jackson
Evans
Sly .
Sly
Sly .
Evans
Evans
Evtfns
Sly .
Sly
Sly .
Sly
Sly .
Sly
Sly .
Jackson
Sly
Sly
Sly
Sly
Sly
Sly
Williams
pars
1
2
8
9
11
12
13
14
14
16
17
17
18
18
20
24
25
25
26
26
27
28
29
30
33
37
38
47
51
53
54
55
56
57
62
63
70
71
73
74
75
76
78
81
82
87
88
89
90
90
90
93
95
98
101
LIST
^0. ftVIJKCT.
56. Old Liverpool
57. GoREE Buildings
58. Baths
59. The Exchange
60. Town Hall
61. Custom House
62. Royal Bank
63. St. James's Cemetery
64. Huskisson's Monument
65. The Infirmary .
66. Zoological Gardens
67. Prince Rufbrt's Quarters
68. St. George's Church, Everton
69. St. Nicholas Church, Liverpool
70. St. Luke's Church
71. Dr. Raffles' Chapel .
72. St. John's Market .
73. Mr. Roscob's Birth-place
74. Lighthouse and Fort
75. Duke's Dock
76. Speke Hall* .
77. Interior of Speke Hall*
78. Hale Hall
79. Allerton Hall .
80. J. P. Kemble's Birth place
81. Farnworth Church .
82. Knowsley Hall
83. Sefton Church
84. Lydiate Abbey
85. Ormskirk Church
86. RuFFORD Old Hall
87. Ancient Canoe .
88. Mab's Cross, Wigan
89. Market-place, Preston
90. Boggart's Clouoh .
91. Entrance to ditto
92. Middleton Church
93. The Thrutch
94. The Fairies Chapel
95. Inscription at Steaner Bottom
96. The Eagles' Crag .
97. Holme Chapel
98 Holme Hall .
99. Holme Cross
100. TowNELBY Hall
101. Doorway, TowNELBY
102. WuALLEY Abbey
103. The Abbot's Stall
104. Ancient Carving on Seat
105. Brasses ....
106. Gateway
107. Remains of Chapter House
108. Private Chapel
109. Clithero Castle
110. Peggy's Well
111. "DuLB UPON Dun"
112. Waddington Bridge
113. Waddington Hall
114. Garden View of ditto
115. Great Mitton Church
OF ILLUSTRATIONS
DRAWN BY
Sargent
Sargent
Franklin
Franklin
Sargent
Sargent
Sargent
Franklin
Franklin
Franklin
Franklin
Delamotie
Franklin
Franklin
Franklin
Sargent
Sargent
Franklin
Sargent
Franklin
Sargent
Sargent
Delamotte
Franklin
Sargent
Sargent
Sargent
Franklin
Delamotte
Sargent
Franklin
Redding
Sargent
Sargent
Dodd .
Dodd
Dodd .
Dodd
Sargent
Dodd
Dodd .
Dodd
Dodd .
Dodd
Dodd .
Dodd
Dodd .
Dodd
Dodd .
Dodd
Dodd .
Dodd
Dodd .
Delamotte
Dodd .
Dodd
Dodd .
Dodd
Dodd
Dodd
* From Drawings by W. H. Pym B, engraved in " Fi.Micr
BNGRIVKD BY
rAGb
. . Evans . . . 103
Armstrong
. 105
WtUiams
, 106
Walmsley .
110
Evans .
. Ill
. NichoUs .
. Ill
. Wakefield
113
Sly . .
, 115
Sly .
115
Gilks
. 117
Jackson
. 118
Delamotte
. 119
Green .
. 120
Jackson
. 121
Walmsley
. 122
Mason
. 123
Mason
, 124
Armstrong
. 127
NirkoUs
. 129
Armstrong
. 129
Evans .
. 133
Evans
. 133
Evans .
. 134
Bastin
. 135
Evans .
. 136
Masoti
. 137
Evans .
. 139
Evans
. 141
Delamotte
. 142
Armstrong
. 143
Landells
. 147
Evans .
. 148
. Evans
. 153
. NicholU
. 158
Walmsley
. 160
Landells
. 162
Bastin
. 163
Armstrong
. 167
Evans
. 168
. Wakefield
. 174
Jackson
. 177
Evans .
. 183
Jackson
. 184
. Wakefield
. 185
Kirchner
. 186
Jackson
. 186
, Gray
. 193
Landells
. 198
Mason
. 198
Mason
. 199
. GUks
. 202
, NicholU
. 203
Landells
. 204
Delamotte
. 205
Landells ,
. 209
Evans .
. 211
Walmsley
. 213
Jackson
. 215
Evans
. 21G
Landells
. 2!7
Ijjinc
a^l^lrc/•
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
NO. lUBJECT.
116. MiTTON Cross
117. Ancient Chest . . . :
118. Little Mitton Hall
119. Bridges at Stonthurst
120. Stonyhurst
121. The High Altar at Stonyhurst
122. Roman Altar ....
123. Garden at Stonyhurst
124. Avenue at Stonyhurst .
125. RiBCHESTER ....
126. Samlesbury Hall ....
127. Ancient Sculpture at Ribcuester
128. Almshouses, Stydd ....
129. Stydd Chapel ....
130. Gravestones at Stydd .
131. Font at Stydd ....
132. Norman Door, Stydd
133. Ancient Sculpture at Ribchester
134. Roman Remains ....
135. Ribchester Church
136. Grant's Tower ....
137. Ramsbottom Church .
138. Brandlesholmb Hall
139. Rush-bearing ....
140. Chamber Hall ....
141. Sir Robert Peel's Birth-place .
142. The Uksworth Arms
143. Three Illust. of the Dragon Legend
144. Entrance to Bury
145. Roop OF Radcliffe Church
146. Window of Radcliffe Church
147. Remains of Radcliffe Tower .
148. Prestwich Church
149. Execution of Lord Derby at Bolton
150. Hall in the Wood
151. TuRTON Tower ....
152. TuRTON Tower ....
153. RiviNQTON Pike .
154. Great Hall, Hoghton .
155. House of late Sir R. Peel, Blackburn
156. Samlesbury Hall
157. Fleetwood
158. Lancaster Town Hall
159. Lancaster Castle ....
160. Hornby Castle in 1643
161. 1842 .
162. Cartmel Priory ....
163. Newby Bridge ....
164. Storrs Hall, Windermere .
165. Old Man Mountain
166. Broughton Church
167. Dalton Cross ....
168. Dalton Tower ....
169. Ancient Arch, Furness Abbey
170. Pile of Fouldrey
171. Ulverston Church ....
DRAWN BT
Dodd .
Dodd '
Franklin
Dodd
Dodd .
Dodd
Dodd .
Dodd
Dodd .
Dodd
Cardwell
CardweU
Cardwell
Cardwell
Cardwell
CardweU
Cardwell
Dodd
CardweU
Dodd
Dodd .
Dodd
Dodd .
Dodd
Dodd .
Dodd
Dodd .
Dodd
Dodd .
Dodd
Dodd .
Dodd
Dodd .
Dodd
Dodd .
Dodd
Dodd .
Dodd
Dodd .
CardweU
Cardwell
Franklin
Sargent
Sargent
Sargent
Sargent
Sargent
Sargent
Sargent
Sargent
Sargent
Sargent
Sargent
Franklin
Sargent
Sargent
KNORAVKU BY
PAGK
Mason
. 218
Evans .
. 218
Landells .
. 219
Landells . .
220
Wahnsley .
225
Evans . . .
. 228
Evans
, 231
Landells . .
231
Evans
232
Whimper . .
233
Evans
233
Gilks . . .
234
Landells .
236
Grag . . .
236
Evans
. 237
Mason . , .
238
Gilks
238
Evans . . .
238
Gilks
239
Mason . .
240
Mason
244
Jackson . .
246
Gray
247
Andrews . .
249
Jackson .
. 250
Landells . .
. 251
Evans
. 252
Evans . • .
. 253
Evans
. 254
Evans . . .
, 258
Evans
259
Evans .
. 260
Whimper .
. 261
Evans . . ,
. 267
Mason
, 269
Gilks .
. 271
Gilks
. 275
Whimper
. 280
NichoUs .
284
Evans .
. 290
W<Umsley .
. 292
Evans .
. 296
Walmsley .
. 300
NichoUs
. 302
Walmsley .
. 305
Walmsl^
Wakefield
. 305
. 311
Evans . . ,
. 313
Landells .
. 316
Landells
. 319
Landells .
. 323
Mason .
. 324
Mason
325
Evans .
. 328
Evans
. 332
Landells
. 335
The Drawings on the Wood are by Mr. G. F. Sargent and Mr. J. Franklin.
LANCASHIRE.
Lancashire,* one of the most important territorial divisions of England,
extending over a large superficies, takes rank among Ae counties the first
in population and the fifth in extent of surface. Cheshire and Derbyshire
limit this county southward, Cumberland and Westmoreland northward, and
Yorkshire upon the east. On the western side, bordering upon the Irish
Channel, the boundary line is extremely irregular, ifrom the indentations of
the coast.
We were struck with the remarkable difference the county exhibits in the
northern and southern districts, and the same may be observed of the eastern
and western, as well as in its peculiar adaptation to the development of the
wonderful manu&cturing energies it has called into action. In an agticultural
sense, the indifferent nature of the soil over a large part of the surface effectu-
ally prevents its holding more than secondary rank. The waste lands are still
very considerable, notwithstanding the consumption of a poptdation which has
been augmented with a rapidity unexampled in any other district of the same
extent in the world. The returns of 1831 shewed that the increase had been
eight-foldf since the first year of the eighteenth century, and that in the last
ten years of that term it had augmented twenty-seven per cent. The returns
of 1841, shew an increase of 24*7 per cent. The cause of this pheno-
menon is found in the astonishing magnitude of its manufactures and the
wonderful activity of its commercial relations. Possessing a fine port and
exhaustless coal mines, the additions to the population and wealth of Lan-
cashire arise, as in almost all similar cases, from the use of those of its natural
resources which are most accessible, and are to be procured with the smallest
outlay of capital.
* Or county of Lancaster,— the name is said to be derived from the Saxon Lanautencyre, after the
county town. Antiquaries say that the name of the county town itself came from AIoutm, Lancaster
being situated upon the river Lan, .The latitude of Manchester, near the southern exiremity of the
county, is bSfiSt v.; the longitude 2" 42' w.; the northern end lies in about 54<> 24' n. and S*" T w.
The superficies cover 1765 square miles, or about 1,129,600 acres. It is divided into the hundreds of
Amounderness, containing 145,110 acres; Blackburn, 175,590; Ley land, 79,990; Lonsdale, 267,970;
Salford, 214,870; and West Derby, 234,790.
t From 166,200 to 1,336,854; and in 1841, 1,667,004.
2 ENGLANB IN THE NINFTEEXTn CENTTRT :
One portion of Lancashire — Lonedalc, north of the Sands — presents a
snperficieB so different from the rest, that it belongs, from its natural con-
stitution, to Cumberland and Westmoreland, It is marked by very elevated
mountain summits, by deep glens and narrow lakes, by savage wilds, and by
much of the most beautiful scenery in the island. South of the sands,
the banks of the Lune are fine, yet their extent is small, and the higher and
more extended landscapes in the eastern part of the coiinty arc indebted to
Yorkshire for their noble distances. Yet there is some bold scenery upon
this border, as we see exemplified in Fendle Hill.
In the hundreds of Blackburn and Bochdale, still keeping upon the
eastern border, there are scenes which are very beautifril, particularly on the
banks of the Ribble; but these are confined to a few particular spots, and
are not sufficiently extensive to impart their own character to the county
generally. The western part of Lancashire, from Lancaster to the banks
of the Mersey, is flat and uninteresting, and near the sea exhibits more than
ordinary want of the finer sea-shore character. No bold rocks and towering
cliffs mark the ocean boundary; but in their place are treeless wastes, bleak
moors, and unprofitable and wearisome sands. It will thus be seen that
the elevated land is confined to the eastern side, south of Furness, — that the
western ia level; and that though here and there detached portions of the
surface are interesting and even bcautiiiil, they are not numerous enough
to class the surface south of the sands very high in picturesque beauty any
more than in fertility of production.
The climate of Lancashire is mild, and may be styled wet rather than
moist. The Roman name of the Segantii, signiiying, according to Whittaker,
" the country of water," — though that writer presumes this was in reference
to the sea — is by no means inappropriate in reference to the climate. The
temperature of the summer is rarely otherwise than low. The mean has been
taken on the average of eight years at fifty-one and half degrees of Fahrenheit.
During west and south-west winds, a considerable degree of damp cold is
LANCASHIRE. 3
experienced, and in the northern and eastern districts the spring season comes
in very late.*
The geological aspect of Lancashire displays little variety of formation
compared with many counties of much less extent. Sandstone, of the red
species, was the most conspicuous formation which we encountered; underneath
which lies the vast bed of rock salt so well known a little more to the south
in that part of England. This sandstone spreads along the shores of the
Mersey towards Manchester, and may be detected upon the western side of
the county as fax north as Lancaster and the vale of the Lune. Over this
bed of stone in many parts, particularly westward, peat-mosses are spread,
clay and marie likewise cover it to a considerable thickness. The general
appearance of the surface over this sandstone stratum is level, or the elevations
encountered are but trivial. North of Preston the covering of peat-moss is
less marked than to the westward of a line drawn from Liverpool to Preston
by Ormskirk. These depositions of peat, called ** mosses" in this county,
have been brought into cultivation, except in a few places, where they
still retain their natural appearance. Large timber trees, black as ebony, are
discovered in these peat-beds, the remnants of the primeval forests of the
island; they will be more particularly noticed hereafter under their local
names. Under the sandstone formation repose the treasures of Lancashire,
in the great coal measures upon which are laid the foundations of the won-
derful superstructure of manufactures that renders the county so renowned.
ITie principal coal-field is of irregular extent, and lies between the Mersey and
Bibble, extending itself by Colne and Burnley, south-westwards to Blackburn,
Chorley, Upholland, Wigan, northerly to Ormskirk, and afterwards by Prescot
to Warrington. It describes a very irregular line of boundary, by Newton to
Worsley and Manchester, extending roimd the last-named place for a distance
of five miles, and going afterwards to the boundary of the county, but not
traversing it into Yorkshire. The high land upon the Yorkshire limit consists
of what is locally termed " millstone grit," and is found to come out firom
under the coal measures. This grit is discovered also in the basins of the
Mersey and Ribble, and even in the valley of the Irwell. Carboniferous lime-
stone occurs north of the Lune, while near Kirkby Lonsdale the red sandstone
shews itself. The lofty hiUs of Fumess, rising in the "Old Man" mountain
and others, to the height of between two and three thousand feet above the
sea, are composed of schistose, or mountain and carboniferous slate. Sand
and sand-beaches are common to the whole of the extreme west of the county,
and cover a large tract in the bays of Morecombe and of the Leven. Traces
of the metals are discoverable in several places in Fumess. Dalton possesses
* The mean annual temperature for Manchester, as observed by Dr. Dalton for fourteen years, is
49" 52'. This is low for a maritime county not situated further northwards. From observations
made in the same town for seven years, the mean annual quantity of rain is 96*14 inches, which is
perhaps a fair average for the entire county south of the sands, beyond which it is probable that
^'944 inches, being that of Kendal, bordering on Fumess, may approximate to the correct average.
5
4 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY!
rich mines of iron, the ore from which is exported. There are workings
of copper and lead, but they return only a small profit. Tlie Cannel coal
raised in Lancashire is remarkable for bearing to be turned in a lathe, and
trinkets of it are thus made; its peculiarities in burning are well known.
The quantity raised is not great.
Having thus briefly touched upon two or three subjects connected with
the county generally, which cannot well be attached to the description of any
particular locality, we have only to add that the Duchy and Palatinate of
Lancaster include estates and property out of that county. This Duchy was
given at the Conquest to Roger de Poitou, and by subsequent forfeiture came
into the possession of the crown. Henry HI. appointed his youngest son Earl
of Lancaster. Passing afterwards through several hands, the Duchy and estates
were ultimately vested in Edward IV. as Duke of Lancaster, being settled by
act of parliament upon the prince and his heirs for ever. Considerable
additions were made to the possessions of the Duchy by Henry VIII. out of
the estates he seized at the dissolution of the monasteries ; but this situation of
things did not long continue, since succeeding monarchs greatly deteriorated
the property by granting leases. The larger part consists at present of what
are called the forests of Myerscough, Fullwood, Blaesdale, Wyersdale, and
Quemmore, all in the northern part of the county, containing respectively
2200, 907, 9000, 20,000, and 8000 acres.
The Duchy of Lancaster being a County Palatine, or, in other words,
possessing royal privileges, contains a Court of Chancery founded by Edward
III., having an equity jurisdiction within the palatinate. The appointments
of all officers, and even of the sheriffs, emanate from the Duchy.
We shall now, after this succinct notice of what is connected more imme-
diately with the county at large, postpone every other topic to enter upon a
description of the Cotton Manufacture — ^that object of primary importance in
this district of gigantic industry.
A tourist ii^ Lancashire has to search for objects of interest, diflferent from
those which excited his attention in other lands: he has to contemplate
stupendous triumphs of science and art, instead of the wondrous works of
nature; he has to deal with the present and the future, scarcely finding time
to bestow inquiry or reflection on the past. Whatever it may have been,
Lancashire is now the home of a system of manufactures which has revolu-
tionized the trade- of the entire world, baffled the calculations of the wisest,
falsified the predictions of the most far-sighted, and both in its good and in
its evil consequences evolved results which contradict almost every principle
received as an aphorism in a past generation. He who visits a manufacturing
district for the first time, must prepare himself to meet a social system abso-
lutely new — not merely in its phases, but its elements — ^to which his past
experience furnishes no guide, and history oflTers no analogy.
The steam-engine had no precedent; locomotives are equally destitute of
LANCASHIRE. O
a parentage and an infancy ; the rude machines which are doubtfully exhibited
as parents of the power-loom and the mule-spinner, are at best but dwarfs
that became the parents of giants. A commander in William's army at the
battle of Hastings, would be as well qualified to manoeuvre the household
brigade of Queen Victoria, or superintend the arrangement of a park of
artillery, as an agriculturist or even a merchant to understand at the first
glance the economy of mills and manufactories. " The Factory System," as
it is generally called, is not only new in itself, but it is the prolific parent of
many other novelties which have not yet received their ftdl development; no
person can contemplate the vast interval which separates the rising generation
of operatives firom that beginning to disappear from the stage, without perceiv-
ing that the factory population is in a state of transition, and that there is a
steady progress towards frirther changes, the nature of which will probably be
imdiscovered until they have attained their maturity.
It will be well for the traveller, as he is hurried onwards by the railroad
to those districts where brass and iron are apparently opposed to the thews
and sinews of man, but where in reality they work together in increasing
harmony, to prepare himself by reflection for the novelties he is about to
encoimter. Let him remember that he is about to see a new state of society
establishing itself in an old nation. The factory system suddenly developed
itself in a land already crowded to excess with forms and institutions: its
rapidity was incalculable, its energies resistless — ^pushing aside every thing
which was likely to impede its securing for itself a place in social existence,
and it did not always exhibit delicacy or tenderness in thrusting out and
removing its opponents. From the very beginning it did not, nor does it yet
wholly, harmonize with all the ancient and hereditary institutions of the land;
it has therefore incommoded and inconvenienced many whose positions were
fixed by that system, and has received annoyances from them in turn; it
resembles " the big man forcing his way through a crowd," elbowing, jostling,
and thrusting aside his weaker neighbours, and receiving many a sly pinch in
revenge.
The factory system is established, but not yet accommodated; its existence
is recognised, but its relations to all that was previously existing have not
been settled; they are indeed in the process of arrangement, but such weighty
interests axe involved in the terms of agreement, that the negotiations axe not
likely to be terminated by legislation or diplomacy, but will wait the resistless
current of events.
From these considerations, the traveller will see that the factory system
is in a greater or less degree intertwined with every political question which
engages public attention in the present day; and if he be weary of the contests
and struggles of parties, he will act wisely if he adopts a firm resolution to
confine his attention entirely to facts, and to leave the opinions which will
be offered to him by thousands in the quiet possession of their natural owners.
6 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
He IS about to investigate a subject of the deepest and yet of increasing
importance, not merely to England but to the civilized world; there can be
no doubt that the system of society about to be offered to his view, will be
the agent most potent in modifying the course and progress of the next and
f many succeeding generations, and guiding their destinies, whether for good
or evil.
It is not to be expected that any traveller can give a complete account of
all the circumstances connected with the manufacturing districts of Lancashire,
and all their influences on public polity and domestic life ; for such a task no
human powers of observation would be adequate. Some influences are too
extensive, others too minute, and all are in such constant action, that it is
scarcely possible to find the moment of repose when an examination of their
constituent parts might be attempted. Even those who have resided in the
manufacturing districts all their lives, and who have been neither incurious
nor uninterested spectators of the changes which machinery has wrought, are
ready to confess that there is much in the system which either escapes their
ken or baffles their comprehension; that there are agencies at work, viewless
f as the wind — " they hear the sound thereof, but cannot tell whence it cometh
or whither it gocth ;" and this must necessarily be the case ; for, until machinery
has worked out all its results, the condition of society which it produces must
I be regarded as in a state of transition.
Transition is necessarily associated with doubt — ^we know what we are,
but know not what we may be, — there are those who hope for change, and
there are those who fear it. These feelings are not always the dictates of
I self-interest: hope from change often arises from nobler causes than dissatisfac-
tion with the existing state of things, and fear of change must not always be
attributed to the dread of seeing advantages afforded to the many, which are
now monopolized by the few; men on all sides are actuated by better motives
than those for which their opponents give them credit: the errors most com-
f monly attributed to principles will in the great majority of instances be found
to arise from false or imperfect perceptions of facts.
In these preliminary observations, we have embodied the reflections which
passed through our minds while the train carried us from Birmingham towards
Manchester. We reflected how various and how contradictory were the
' accounts given of a manufacturing population. The pictures which we had
seen were drawn either entirely with chalk or entirely with .charcoal; they
were either all light or all dark, without a single neutral tint. But we made
these reflections without at all impugning the honesty of those who had given
these opposite delineations; we could not but remember that our own views
had been greatly modified by every successive visit to Manchester, and that
we were most positive at the time when we knew least about the matter.
( There needed not the errors of others to give us a lesson of warning; we had
errors of our own in abundance for so usefuTa pui*pose.
LANCASHIRE. 7
As Manchester is the capital of the manufacturing districts of Lancashire^
it will be the first place to engage the attention of a traveller. It is the centre
of a system of railroads, which will soon connect it with all the great marts of
England. There are already five of these great channels of communication
radiating from the town, and measures are in preparation for connecting them
together by a junction line, which will give Manchester greater facilities of
communication than London itself possesses. The Grand Junction Railway,
the route most usually traversed by visitors from the south, enters the county
by a bridge over the river Mersey, not far from the town of Warrington.
A cotton mill close to the Warrington station announces the limits of the
spinning districts on that side more forcibly than any other landmark that
could be erected; at no great distance, a new manufactory for the construc-
tion of locomotive engines similarly bears evidence that this is the native
land of steam-carriages; while the lofty chimney of Muspratt's chemical works
in the distance, explains at the very outset the reason why church spires
and monumental columns are scarcely to be found within the precincts of
Lancashire.
About four miles from Warrington the Grand Junction joins the Liver-
pool and Manchester Railway at the Paxkside station. Here also the North
Union (Preston and Lancaster) Railway comes upon the same Une, so that
Parkside would seem likely to flourish as a railway village; but from some
cause or other its capabilities are neglected, and those who are compelled to
stop at it when changing from one line of railway to another, will find it like
" the Baron of Bucklivie's town," which had neither " horse's meat nor man's
meat, nor a place to sit down."
Few railroads have any charms for the lovers of the picturesque, and that
between Parkside and Manchester may compete in dullness with any in the
kingdom. A great pa# of it passes over Chat Moss, which, until the formation
of the railroad, was one of the most dangerous and treacherous bogs in the
three kingdoms. Indeed, when the railroad was first proposed to be made
between Liverpool and Manchester, the notion of carrying it over Chat Moss
was scouted by several of the most eminent surveyors and engineers, who
spoke of the attempt as little short of insanity. Just where the railroad
crosses the Duke of Bridgewater's Canal, a foundry has been erected by
Messrs. Nasmyth and Gaskell, which is perhaps the most favourably situated
of any such establishment in Europe. It has a frontage both to the railway
and the canal; it is built on a level that admits of minor railway communica-
tion between its several workshops, and thus averts the danger of accidents
which arise from the removal of heavy engines from one part of an establish-
ment to another, according to the several processes required for their com-
pletion; and it is surrounded by green fields, which from their situation are
not likely to attract speculators in brick and mortar. Neat cottages for the
workmen axe erected in the vicinity, and slight as is the glance which the
O ENOI-ANn IN THE XINETEENTH CENTVRY :
traveller catches of the establishment as the train sweeps past, it is sufficient
to impress him with a belief that in sucli a locality manufacturing horrors
must be greatly abated in their intensity.
A visit to the establishment at Patricroft, or the Bridgewater Foundry, as
it is called from its vicinity to the canal, may easily be effected, as the second-
class trains from Manchester stop at a station in the immediate neighbourhood.
The proprietors liberally afford access to every respectable stranger, and the
overseers willingly explain those processes which are most perplexing to the
uninitiated.
From Patricrofl into Manchester tliere is scarcely anything to attract notice.
The train stops on an eminence, just above the junction of the Irwell and
the Medlock, whence Uiere is a pretty extensive view over the townships of
Hulme and Chorlton. The prospect is anything but cheering. Forests of
chimneys, clouds of smoke and volumes of vapour, like the seething of some
stupendous cauldron, occupy the entire landscape; tliere is no sky, but a dark
gray haze, variegated by masses of smoke more dense than the rest, which
look like fleeces of black wool, or clouds of sublimated ink. It would seem
as if fire and water, proverbially the best servants and the worst masters, were
here the recognised despots of huBianity, and that smoke and steam were the
visible signs of tiie tyranny they exercised over suffering victims. There is
little in the Liverpool-road to dissipate these gloomy illusions; it is not until
the traveller reaches Moslcy-strcet, that he begins to think that Manchester
is a place which may possibly be inhabited from choice.
LANCASHIRE. 9
The Exchange is the
first great object of curio-
sity to a visitor of Man-
chester. It stands at the
lower end of Market-
street, which is the best
street in the town, and
not unworthy of ranking
as a provincial Regent-
street: the front ifi a semi-
circle of ample dimen-
sions, erected in a bold
but chaste style, and siur-
rounded by an open space,
which enables the visitor
to appreciate the noble
proportions of the build-
ing. The lower part of the building is almost exclusively occupied by the
room in which the merchants meet; its area is more than four thousand
square feet, and it is lighted principally by a semicircular dome. The
Exchange may be regarded as the parliament house of the lords of cotton;
it is their legislative assembly: the aifairs of the executive are entrusted
to a smaller body, which meets in the Chamber of Commerce, located
in a diifcrent part of the town. This parliament assembles every Tuesday,
and the attendance is greatest about one o'clock, being the hour of " high
change." There is perhaps no part of the world in which so much is
done and so little said in the same space of time. A stranger sees nothing at
first but a collection of gentlemen with thoughtful inteUigent faces, who con-
verse with each other in laconic whispers, supply the defects of words by nods
and signs, move noiselessly from one part of the room to another, guided as if
by some hidden instinct to the precise person in the crowd with whom they
have business to transact. A phrenologist will nowhere meet such a collection
of decidedly clever heads; and the physiognomist who declared that he could
find traces of stupidity in the faces of the wisest philosophers, would be at a
loss to find any indication of its presence in the countenances assembled on the
Exchange at Manchester. Genius appears to be not less rare than folly; the
characteristic features of the meeting collectively and individually, are those of
talent in high working order. Whether trade he brisk or dull, " high change"
is equally crowded, and the difference of its aspect at the two periods is
sufficiently striking. In stirring times, every man on change seems as if he
belonged to the community of dancing dervishes, being utterly incapable of
remaining for a single second in one place: it is the principle of a Manchester
man, that " nought is done while aught remains to do;" let him but have the
10 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
opportunity^ and he will undertake to supply all the markets between China
and Peru, and will be exceedingly vexed if he has lost an opportunity of
selling some yam at Japan on his way. When trade is dull, the merchants
and factors stand motionless as statues, or move about as slowly as if they
followed a funeral; the look of eagerness is exchanged for that of dogged
obstinacy; it seems to say, " my mind is made up to lose so much, but I am
resolved to lose no more." An increase of sternness and inflexibility accom-
panies the decline of the Manchester trade, and foreigners declare that the
worst time to expect a bargain is a season of disti-ess. ** High change" lasts
little more than an hour; after the clock has struck two the meeting gradually
melts away, and before three the building is as silent and deserted as one
of the catacombs of Egypt.
Suppose, gentle reader, what is not very far from the fact, that we have
made an appointment with a mill-owner to see his factory this evening. We
are to spend some days in Manchester together, and as the entire social
economy of the town depends on its cotton manufactures, we must endeavour
to form some adequate notion of their nature, in order to prepare ourselves
for rightly comprehending their effects.
More than one visit to a cotton miU is necessary to overcome the confusion
created by its novelty and its complication, so as to obtain any notion of the
several processes to which the material is subjected before it assumes the shape
of yam. The din of the machinery, which, if there be any power-looms at
work, beats the Falls of Niagara all to nothing; — the rapid motions of the
several wheels and shafls — the variety and complication of the several pro-
cesses which pass under view, distract the mind, and at first produce a sense
of weariness which it is not easy for a visitor to overcome. On the present
occasion it will be better not to distract ourselves by entering into an examin-
ation of the Steam-Engine; its only connexion with cotton spinning is as a
moving power, and its place is often beneficially supplied by the water-wheel.
We need only remember that steam, or water, turns the horizontal shafts which
we shall see revolving close to the ceiling of every room, and that the straps
which play over these shafts communicate motion to the several machines we
shall inspect.
Silk, flax, wool, and cotton, may be regarded as the basis of all textile or
woven fabrics: the process of weaving is in principle the same for all, but
there is a great variety in the spinning of these several substances, occasioned
by the great difference of their staple. Silk indeed, of which the substance
is already one of continuous thread, is more properly said to be thrown than
spun; cotton has the shortest staple of any material used in spinning, and
consequently there is most difficulty in procuring from it a perfectly smooth
yarn. Mechanical ingenuity is therefore taxed, not merely to increase the
amount, but also to secure uniformity of production, and the contrivances for
the latter purpose are far more minute and cmious than those for increasing
the quantity.
XANCASHTRE. 11
Cotton is a vegetable wool, which adheres to the seeds of certain plants^
shrubs, and trees: the cotton produced jfrom annual vegetables is far the most
valuable, on account of the length and fineness of its staple, but shrubs yield the
most abundant produce. The plants may, with very little attention, be grown
in this country, and the yellow flower of the cotton is no despicable ornament
to the greenhouse. It is indeed frequently cultivated by horticulturists, and
need not therefore be further described. The seeds round which the wool
grows are very oUy, and were they packed with the wool they would render
it mouldy and dirty. It is therefore necessary that the seeds should be
removed before the cotton is packed for exportation; and the inferiority of the
Hindoos in this process is one of the reasons why Indian cotton bears so low
a price when compared with American.
Those immense wagons, that are met incessantly traversing the streets of
Manchester, drawn by horses which can alone be matched by the drays of
London, are for the most part laden with bales of cotton in the raw or manu-
factured state. Our present concern is with the former ; and as some of the
loose particles constantly fall from the bags into the street, it may be advisable
to cast a brief glance at the raw material.
The relative value of raw cotton depends on the length of its staple, the
delicacy of its fibre, and its freedom from dirt and seeds. An unpractised eye
does not easily detect the dififerences which a manufacturer perceives at a
single glance, and one is apt to conclude that in the sale of cotton there is
great scope for fraud, by mixing the inferior kinds with those of superior
quality. On inquiry, we were informed that there were many opportunities for
such deception, but that it was rarely if ever practised. Raw cotton is sold by
sample, and so high is the sense of commercial honour among the cotton
dealers that a contract is rarely voided by supplying an article inferior to the
sample. Previous to the opening of the railroad the cotton dealers formed an
important part of the merchants of Manchester, but since that period many
manufacturers prefer making their purchases in Liverpool.
However careful the Americans may be, cotton never comes to England in
a state fit for immediate use ; some seeds remain after the most careful clean-
ing, and the pressure to which it is subjected in packing, forms hard matted
lumps, and some of the coarser and heavier wool is unavoidably mixed with
that of superior quality. The first operation in the process of manu&cture is
consequently the cleaning of the cotton. It is put into the blowing machine,
where the cotton is torn open by revolving spikes,
and subjected to the action of a very powerftd blast,
produced by the rapid turnings of a fan ; the light
wool is thus blown to some distance from the heavier
portions, the dirt, seeds, etc. This process is con-
tinued in the scutching machine, where the cotton is
beaten by metallic blades making from 3000 to 5000
13 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY!
revolutions in the minute; these completely open the fibre, and separate
the fine wool &om the waste, which falls to the ground through a frame of
wire work.
The cleaning process is generally called " willowing," which is either a
corruption of winnowing, or perhaps derived firom the willow frames on which
the cotton was cleaned by beating, before blowing machines were invented.
Previoufl to this improvement the cotton was placed upon willow hurdles, or
upon cords stretched over a wooden frame, and then beaten with smooth
switches. This operation, technically called batting, though very fatiguing, and
we believe unwholesome, from the dust, etc. which was scattered about, was
usually performed by women : it is now very rarely practised, except when
some remarkably fine cotton is required for the manufacture of lace, when it is
of importance to preserve the length of the staple, which might be injured by
machinery.
The Hindoos open the fibres of their cotton by a bow similar to that which
hatters use in raising wool ; the same contrivance appears to have been em-
ployed in America, for we find the term " bowed cotton" still employed in the
language of commerce. Judging from its effects on wool and fur, we should
think that the bow is an elective machine for cleaning and opening the fibres,
but it would be fax slower and less productive than the willow,
When cleaned the cotton is brought to the lapping or spreading machine,
where a given weight
of the wool is spread
over a determinate
surfitce of cloth, and
being then slightly
compressed hy a cy-
linder, it is lapped
round a cylindrical
roller so as to be in
a fit state for feeding
the carding machine.
It is a singular &ct,
illustrating the accu-
racy with which machinery works, that the weight of the cotton spread on
the cloth in this process regulates the fineness of the thread ultimately produced,
and that there is rarely any great amount of error in the calculation.
The next process, that of carding, is one of the most beautiful in the
whole of the cotton manu&cturc. An explanation of the object to be
attained, is necessary ibr those who have not paid some attention to the subject.
In order that any material should be spun, that is, should have its fibres
twisted together, it is essential that these fibres should be stra^ht and parallel
with each other. After having been subjected to the action of the willow, the
LANCASHIRE. 13
fibres of the cotton are blown about in every direction, and if compressed
would be entangled with each other. This, which is the object to be gained
for the process of felting, is precisely that which must be carefully avoided for
spinning. In order to straighten the fibre, the cotton is made to pass between
cards or brushes of wire, one of which is stationary and the other in motion,
the wire teeth catch the fibres, and by their continued action pull them into
nearly parallel directions.
This process was anciently, and in some rural districts both of England
and Ireland is still, effected by hand-cards, which might be described as two
brushes with handles, having short
wires instead of hairs. The labour was
usually performed by women, who
placed one of the cards on the knee,
holding it firm with the left hand; and
then spreading the cotton or wool in
small quantities over the wire, drew
the other card repeatedly over it with
the right hand until the fibres were
deemed sufficiently straight. When
thus prepared, the cardinge were taken
off in a roll by the hand, and laid so as
to be united into a continuous roving
by the spinning wheel.
The first great improvement in this process was to fix one of the cards to
a table and suspend the other from U»e ceiling, so that the workman could
move it witbout having to sustain its weight Such a contrivance allowed
" stock-cards," as they were called, to be made of double the size of hand-
cards, and consequently to double the quantity of work produced. We have
seen stock-cards in some rural districts, where there is still a domestic manu-
facture of woollens, but they are daily becoming of more rare occurrence.
In nearly all manufactures, they have been superseded by the cylindrical
cards, which Mr. Baines has shewn to be the invention of Mr. Lewis Paul of
Birmingham, about the year 1748, About 1760, the process, which seems to
have been either neglected or disused, was revived by Mr. Morris of Wigan,
and apphed to the carding of cotton. The perfecting of the machine has been
claimed tor Sir Bichard Arkwright, but the originality of his invention has
been very fiercely contested. Without entering into the controversy, we shall
proceed to describe briefly the machine in its present stat«.
The carding machine has the appearance of a cylindrical box, into which
cotton is given by the roller, round which it was wrapped in the spreading
operation. Its wooden covering is a series of narrow pannels; and if one of
these be lifted, it will be seen that each of them is a card, and that a cylinder
covered with cards occupies the interior of the box, between which and the
14 ENGLAND IX TIIE NINETEENTH CEXTURY:
panncl-cards the cotton is rapidly passed. At the opposite side of the box is
a. second cylinder, the cards on which, instead of being placed horizontally,
are wound spirally round the cylinder, which ia called a doffer, so as to remove
the carded cotton in a continuous fleece. The cotton is slipped from the
doffer by the action of a slip of metal, finely toothed like a comb, which being
worked against the cylinder by means of a crank, beats or brushes off the
cotton in a fine filmy fleece. The cloud-like appearance of the carded cotton,
as it is brushed from the doffer
or finishing cylinder by the
crank and comb, is singularly
beautiful — a breath seems to
disturb the delicacy of its tex-
ture, and to the touch it is all
' but impalpable. The filmy
fleece is gradually contracted
as it passes through a funnel,
by which it is forced to assume
the shape of a roD or sliver. It
then passes between two rollers,
by which it ia compressed into
the shape of a riband of consi-
derable tenacity, in which state it coils itself up in a deep tin can.
Looking at the various parts of this interesting machine, the attention is
first eng^ed by the feeding cylinder, which supplies the cotton to the cards
LANCASHIRE. 15
more regularly and continuously than could be effected by hands. The
successiye cards on the concave and convex cylinder are seen to subject the
wool to several successive caxdings at each revolution of the wheel; and to
prevent the necessity of stopping the machine to remove the carded cotton,
it is stripped off by the doffer, which removes the cotton, not in successive
portions, but in one continuous fleece. Again, the removal of this fleece from
the doffer, which would be both tedious and imperfect if attempted by hand-
cards, is completely accomplished by the simple agency of the crank and comb.
The construction of the cards well deserves the attention of the visitor.
Each card consists of a band of leather, pierced with teeth of iron wire, each
bit of wire bearing two teeth | } . The teeth must be perfectiy alike in
size and shape, and they must be equally distributed over the surface of the
leather. It may be deemed easy to bend the wire at right angles, so as to
make it penetrate the leather, but a second and more difficult operation
remains ; each tooth must be bent to a given obtuse angle ^ \ , which must
not have the slightest variation in the whole of the same system of cards.
Were any one tooth to vary from the angle formed by the rest, it would lay
hold of more or less cotton, and thus render the carding irregular. Again, the
leather must be of uniform thickness, for any inequalities would be equivalent
to a variation in the length of the teeth; the holes with which it is pierced
to receive the double tooth must also have the same inclination to the plane
of the leather; and finally, the cross part of the wire at the back must be held
fast, so as to prevent the teeth from easily shifting their position.
A card-making machine, invented by Mr. Dyer of Manchester, was
exhibited at the meeting of the British Association in Birmingham in 1839;
it split the leather, pierced it, cut the wire, formed the teeth, gave them the
requisite inclination, and fixed them in the leather, with a precision and
rapidity which excited the admiration of all the mechanists who saw it. The
cards which it produces, are not however so highly valued as those in which
machinery is more partially employed, but its inventor does not despair of
bringing it to complete perfection.
Carding is not the only operation employed to straighten the fibre of the
cotton. It may easily be conceived that the teeth of the cards will frequently
lay hold of a fibre by the middle, and thus double it together, in which state
it is unfit for spinning. This evil is corrected in the drawing frame — an
important part of the spinning machineiy, for it executes work which could
scarcely have been effected by human hands. The essential parts of the
drawing frame may be easily understood from description. Each drawing
head consists of three pairs of rollers; the upper one of each pair being smooth
and covered with leather, the lower being fluted longitudinally. They are
placed at a distance from each other, which is regulated by the staple of the
cotton; that is to say, the distance between each pair of wheels is generally a
very little more than the length of the fibres subjected to their action. The
16 ENGLAND IN THE NINBTBENTH CENTURY:
loose riband fonncd by the carding macliiiie is pulled through these rollers,
and as they revolve with different Telocitiea the fibres pull out each other,
and reciprocally extend each other to their full length.
But a not less im-
portant object of the
drawing frame is to
equalize the consist-
ency of the cardings.
One carding, not-
withstanding all the
precautions that have
been taken, will be
found to have more
or less of substance
than another, and it
is necessary to coun-
teract this inequality
by combining several
of the carded ribands,
technically called
"card-ends," into one sliver. Eight card-ends are usually brought to the
first drawing head, and ailer passing through the rollers they combine to
from one sliver of the same density as each of them separately, thus increasing
eight-fold the chances of uniformity in the sliver. Four of these slivers arc
again subjected to the some process, and thus the chances of uniformity arc
thirty-two-fold those of the original card-ends; and this is continued until
the last sliver may be regarded as containing parts of 800 card-ends: but for
very fine spinning, the doubling of the fibres, as the process is called, is
multiplied more than 60,000 times.
The drawing frames are fed from the tia cans containing the card-ends, and
the chief duty of those who attend them is to mend or piece the feeding slivers
when one of them is broken, or when one of the cylindrical cans is exhausted.
A contrivance has been recently introduced to abbreviate this labour; a cylin-
drical weight is made to fall at intervals into the receiving can, and by pressing
down the sliver, to force it to hold more than double the quantity which it
would contain if the sliver were left to coil itself loosely. In the mills for
fine spinning, great attention is paid to this process, becatise any defects left
by the drawii^ frame cannot be cured in subsequent operations. The labour
of attending to the machines is the lightest in the cotton mill, but there are
few parts which require more vigilance and care.
As a casual visitor is very likely to pass by a drawing frame without
perceiving its construction, it may be well to mention that there is a mahogany
bar faced with flannel over every drawing head, and a similar bar pressed
LANCASHIRE. 17
gendy by a weight against tKe lower tier of rollers ; these remove all loose
fibres, and it is necessary to displace the upper bar in order to see the action
of the machinery.
The next operation is the making of a roving or thin sliver, about the
thickness of candlewick,andgiving
it only so much of a twist as will
enable it to hold together. The
attenuation of the sliver is accom-
plished by rollers acting in the
same way aa in the drawing pro-
cess, but varioiis contrivances have
been deviBed to give the roving
just so much tension as is neces-
sary and no more. Arkwright
invented the can-roving &ame, in
which a slight twist was given to
the roving by making the receiv-
ing can revolve upon a pivot. It
was necessary that the rovings
after this operation should be
wound off upon bobbins, a process
injurious to their delicate texture ;
to obviate diis evU, the jack-
fi-ame, or jack in the box was contrived, which wound the roving on a bobbin
as it received its twist instead of leaving it to coil in the can. At present
the process of roving is generally performed by the bobbin and fly frame,
an ingenious but complex piece of mechanism, though its principles admit of
easy explanation.
IS ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
Two objects are to be effected : first, the roving is to receive a slight twist,
and, secondly, it is to be then
wound on the bobbin. For the
first purpose the motion of the
spindle is sufficient, the chief
difficulty lies in effecting the
second. The sliver passes from
the roller to the bobbin through
the hollow arm of a flyer at-
tached to the spindle, the other
arm of the spindle is sohd, and
sen'cs only to balance the ma-
chinery. In the most perfect
spindles there ia a brass ring attached to the end of the hollow arm of the
flyer, acted upon by a spring, for the purpose of compressing the roving ;
there is also a delivering finger, round which the roving takes a turn which
prevents its being improperly stretched by the centrifugal force produced by
the rotation of the flyer. The amount of twist given to the roving depends
upon the ratio between the speed of the roller by which it is delivered and
that of the spindle, and this ratio, of course, ia invariable during the process.
The winding-up however presents many difficulties : the delivering flnger of
the flyer must glide up and down under regulated pressure,
so as to lay the roving evenly over the entire surfece of the
bobbin; and as each coil of roving increases the periphery
or thickness of the bobbin, there is a necessity for a cor-
responding change of motion to accommodate the receiving
powers of the bobbin to the quantity of roving given out
by the dehvering arm of the flyer.
Were the bobbin at rest, every revolution of the spindle
would wind round it a length of roving equal to its cir-
cumference; but as the revolutions of the spindle are deter-
mined by the degree of twist necessary to he given to the
roving, and not by the amount which the bobbin can take
up at each revolution, it becomes necessary to make the
bobbin revolve in the same direction with the flyer, hut at
a speed so much less as will enable it to take up the exact
amount of roving given out by the feeding rollers. Sup-
pose that quantity to be six inches, and that the circum-
ference of the bobbin is at the same time six inches, if the
spindle makes nine revolutions while the bobbin makes only
eight, it will have gained one revolution, and by that means will have wound
round the bobbin the exact quantity of roving issued by the delivering rollers ;
now ae the circumference of the bobbins is constantly increased by the roving
LANCASHIRE. 19
wound upon it, there is a perpetually recurring necessity for a series of adjust-
ments, which were found in practice to be beyond the capacity of the persons
employed to superintend the working of these frames. The thicket that the
bobbin becomes in consequence of the roving wound upon it, the more must
its motion be increased in order to diminish the difference of velocity between
it and the spindle : this is effected by causing the driving strap to act on a
conical, instead of a cylindrical drum, thus giving to the movement a variable
instead of an equable velocity. It is not necessary to enter into any examin-
ation of the many ingenious contrivances which have been devised to render the
roving machines more perfect and automatic; the reader will best appreciate
the difficulty of the operation, by bearing in mind that the process of twisting
by the spindle, and winding on the bobbin, though connected in fact, are quite
independent in principle, and that there is therefore a necessity for the nicest
adjustment, in order that the one should be accommodated to the other.
It may be noticed that two slivers from the drawing frame are combined
in a roving, and consequently that we are, after this, to double the amount of
the combinations from the original cardings. We may add that the compress-
ing apparatus attached to the delivering arm of the flyer is not yet universally
used, but is chiefly found in new nulls. The roving process is repeated for the
finer kinds, or as they are technically called, the higher numbers, of yam.
When it is completed, the rovings are taken to be spun either by the throstle
or the mule ; but the rovings for the higher numbers are previously worked
on the stretching frame, which in all its essential parts is the same as the mule,
and may therefore be included in the description of that machine.
Twist of low numbers, called water-twist, because it was originally worked
in Arkwright's water-frame, is spun by the throstle, a machine probably
deriving its name from its singing noise. It is in principle nearly the same as
the drawing frame which has been just described ; it extends the rovings by
the action of rollers into slender threads, and twists them by the rotation of
spindles and flyers. The machinery however is tax more simple, because the
hard-twisted throstle thread does not require such tender manipulation as the
delicate roving. The chief interruption which takes place in throstle spinning
is caused by the necessity of removing the ftiU bobbins and supplying empty
bobbins in their place. The person employed in this duty is called a *^ doffer ;"
and if he is very dexterous the delay wiU not average more than half an hour
per day. The Danforth throstle, for which a patent was obtained some years
ago, has been rejected by many eminent spinners, because the bobbins of yam
it affords being smaller than those turned off by the common throstle, there is
a greater delay in the doffing. It is also objectionable for another reason ; the
yarn it produces is softly wound, and is liable to considerable waste when
reeled upon the bobbins in the warping mill. The yam, however, is said to
possess a greater degree of elasticity, and is therefore preferred for the weaving
of certain kinds of calico.
ENOLAMD IN THB NINETEENTH CENTUEY :
Mule-Spinning La both more common and more interefiting than throBtle-
spinnii^. Let the reader imagine himself in the room, a part of vhich is
represented in the accompanying cut, and it is probable that the circanutances
worUiy of his notice wiU present themselves in nearly the following order.
He will see a carriage about a yard in height, and of very considerable
length, varying in different mills, bearing a row of spindles between its upper
rails: it has generally three wheels, which traverse on the same number
of iron guiding bars, so as to allow of its drawing out to a distance of more
than four feet from the stationary frame; as it recedes from the frame, it draws
with it, and elongates the threads or rather rovings delivered to it through
rollers, by a series of bobbins in the creels or stationary tails. The threads
as they are elongated are twisted by the spindles; and should any of them
break, it is the duty of a boy or girl, called a piecer, to join the disunited
ends as the carriage moves from the upright frame. A girl in the act of
piecing the yam is represented in the cut. When the carriage has receded to
its full extent, the spindles continue to revolve until the requisite quantity of
twist is commimicated to the yam. The spinner then causes the spindles to
revolve backwards until he has unwound the portion of thread which has coiled
spirally round it from the point to the nose of the cop, and at the same time he
lowers a faUer wire, supported by hooks, as seen in the cut, so as to regulate
the winding of the yam on the cop in a proper spiral. There is great nicety
required in regulating the pushing back of the carriage, for it is necessary
that its rate of travelling should be commensurate with the revolution of the
LANCASHIRE. 21
spindles. Three simultaneous and delicate movements hare thus to be effected
by the spinner as the carriage returns : he must guide the faUer wire so as to
ensure the regular winding of the yam on the cop; he must regulate the rota-
tion of the spindles^ of which there are often a thousand to one mule; and he
must push the carriage at such a rate as to supply precisely the exact amount
of yam that the spindles can take up.
The little piecers can only take up the ends when the carriage is within a
foot or two of the delivering roller, and they have therefore an interval of rest
while the carriages traverse backwards and forwards. The spinner too has a
brief respite while the carriage is moving outwards from the frame. The time
taken to make a stretch, that is to draw out a thread equal in length to the
range of the carriage, increases with the fineness of the yam, and varies also
according to the completeness of the machinery and the skill of the operative.
The breaking of the threads depends not merely on the machinery, but to a
very great extent on the atmosphere and temperature. We were in a mill during
the prevalence of a sharp drying east wind, and found that it produced such
an effect on the fibres of the cotton that the threads broke faster than the
piecers could mend them, and that the spinning of very high numbers at such
a time was all but impossible. The rooms in which fine yam is spun are kept
at a temperature of from 70" to 80", which is not so high as to produce much
inconvenience.
It is obvious that the spinner is a very important workman when such
mules as that we have described are employed: on him depend not merely
the machinery and its work, but the employment of the young piecers and
the " scavengers" or " cleaners," who are constantly employed in removing
the waste cotton or *^ fly" as is shewn in the cut. The spinners knew their
strength, and though they received very large remimeration, frequently turned
out for higher wages, by which they not only threw their assistants, the piecers
and cleaners, out of employment, but also the operatives engaged in the
several processes for preparing the cotton previously to its being spun. To
remedy this evil, many attempts were made to construct self-acting mides, that
is, mules which would not require the attention of a spinner, but coidd be
wholly managed by his subordinates. Mr. Roberts, of the firm of Sharp,
Roberts and Co., was the first, and is still the only inventor that can be said
to have succeeded in this desirable object; his self-acting mules are very
generally used in the mills where low-numbers are spim, but I believe that
they have not been found applicable to the spinning of the finer yarns. After
being spun, the yam, if not destined for weft or doubling, is wound off on a
hexagon reel, one yard and a half in circumference; the reel strikes a check
after every eighty revolutions, which form what is called a ley, that is 120
yards of yam; seven leys form a hank of 840 yards of yam, and the fineness
of the thread is known by the number of these hanks that weigh a poimd.
The finest yam ever yet produced was spun in the mill of T. Houldsworth,
22 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
Esq. : there were 450 hanks hi the pound, which at 840 yards to the hank
gives a length of 878,000 yards, or about 216 miles. This is, however, a very
unusual degree of fineness: it is very rare that higher numbers than 300 are
used in any manufacture.
The hanks of yam are ranged according to their ntimbers, and are packed
in cubical bundles of from five to ten pounds weight. These packages are
closely compressed by a simple machine called the bundling-press, and being
neatly wrapped in paper are ready to be sent to market.
The yam designed for making bobbin-net lace and the finer species of
hosiery, is subjected to another process called gassing, which is in fact the
singeing off the loose fibres, or any other unevenness of the thread, by a flame
of gas. The machine consists of a series of jet flames of gas, through each of
which the thread passes several times with a velocity proportioned to the
number of the yam. The machinery is set in motion by the winding and
unwinding of bobbins, each of which revolves from 2000 to S500 times per
minute. Each thread passes through a cleaner, slit in a lever; and when a
knot or rough point occurs too large to pass through the slit, the whole
mechanism for singeing and winding that thread is thrown out of gear by the
jerk given to the lever. The attention of the gasser or tenter of the machine,
who is generally a female, being thus directed to the defect, an instant remedy
is applied without stopping the action of the rest of the machinery.
The ashes of the fibres singed off form a red and almost impalpable powder
like Spanish snuff, which it would be perilous to inhale; the operation is there-
fore conducted in a room protected from the effects of sudden drafts by double
doors and a long entrance passage secured by an additional door. The gassing
process is usually carried on in a detached building, partly to prevent the
danger of fire, and partly to guard against any disturbance by the opening or
shutting of doors.
Yam is formed into thread by the doubling process: two or more mule-
spindle cops, or throstle bobbins, deliver their yam through a pair of rollers
to a spindle and fly, similar to that of the common throstle, which twists the
double yam in a direction opposite to the twist which the yam received in
spinning. The operation is usually facilitated by previously passing the yam
through a weak solution of starch, which renders it more tenacious and com-
pact. Doubling, until mthin the last few years, was a business distinct from
spinning, but it is now common in the mills where high numbers are spun.
The process is most delicate when applied to the very fine yams used in the
manufacture of lace, varying from number 140 to number 350, the extreme
delicacy of which requires the most tender manipulation.
Having now reached the conclusion of the spinning processes, it will be
convenient to recapitulate them briefly, and point out the general principle
that pervades the whole. In all the machines, from the carding frame to the
mule, it will be seen that the cotton is continually attenuated by being passed
LANCASHIRE. 23
through rollers, until a roving is made perfectly even and continuous, after
which it receives the torsion or twist that makes it into yam. The card end is
like a thick rope, which is reduced more and more as it passes through each
successive system of rollers, until it becomes as fine or even finer than a human
hair. It is precisely on the same principle that plates of metal are made
smooth and thin, by being passed successively through several systems of
cylinders. Before the invention of spinning by rollers, this process of attenua-
tion, now so complex, was efiected by the finger and thumb of the spinner.
Hence arose the great superiority of the Hindoos, especially in the finer
fabrics, such as muslins; they possess a delicacy of touch, which apparently
compensates for their want of muscular strength, beyond any other nation on
the face of the earth. We possess a piece of Dacca muslin woven of hand-spun
yam, and it requires the assistance of the microscope to discover that the
sensitive fingers of the Hindoo spinner have failed to produce a thread equal
in evenness and regularity to that wrought by the multitudinous rollers of a
Manchester factory.
A power-loom shed, or room, is very commonly attached to spinning mills,
so that the visitor may see the two processes of spinning and weaving in one
establishment. We shoidd, however, recommend the examination of the
processes on different days, because the multitude and variety of their several
details are likely to fatigue the mind and perplex the memory. The first step
in the process of weaving is the formation of the warpy that is, the longitudinal
threads of the web which lie parallel to each other through the breadth of the
cloth. Warp yam, or twist, is more firmly twisted and harder than the weft,
which is shot through it horizontally by the shuttle; and hence we find in the
economy of Indian manufactures that the warp yam was usually prepared by
the Mohammedans and weft by the Hindoos. The warp yam is wound from
off the cops of the mule, or the bobbins of the throstle, on very large bobbins,
by means of the winding frame. The threads pass through glass hooks fixed
on the guiding frame, which traverses laterally to the right and left, so as to
distribute the yam evenly over the surface of the bobbin. In this operation
the yam is passed through water to increase its tenacity.
The bobbins are then transferred to the warping mill, and their yams are
wound off on a wooden cylinder. The working of the warping machine
reqidres very little explanation. As the yams are unroUed from the system
of bobbins, they pass over and imder a set of cylinders which bring all the
threads into one horizontal plane ; they are then conducted through guide
wires, fixed like the teeth of a comb to the receiving cylinder, which, in
addition to its rotatory motion is capable of being raised or depressed as
the diameter of its barrel is increased or diminished by the winding on or
off of the yam. Great care is requisite in this process to take up and
join any threads which may be accidentally broken; hence the machinery is
painted black, so that the warper, usually a female, can at once perceive the
24 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
deficiency of any of the ■white threads on the dark ground. If she allows a
broken thread to escape, she must unwind the warp again until she discovers
it; and though machinery is provided to facilitate this process, and prevent
any of the other threads receiving injury while she is eearching for the broken
thread, yet there is much delay if the unwinding has to go far back, — and
as the warper is paid by the piece, neglect or delay sadly impairs her wages.
Thoi^h this is really a very simple process, yet it is one which always attracts
the notice of strangers, because the number of bobbins giving out yam from
the bobbin frame produces a very pleasing pictorial effect. The simplicity of
the mechanism does not, however, diminish the interest of the operation. A
visitor who is anxious to witness skill and training in the attendant, as well
as power and ingenuity in the machine, will be struck with the extraordinary
vigilance and quickness of sight displayed by the warper. Though perhaps
a thousand threads are winding before her, if one, whether near or remote,
should happen to break, she at once throws the machinery out of gear,
and proceeds to piece the ends together. In the warping machine, the entire
warp is distributed on eight cylinders, and from them it is rolled upon a
single cylinder in the dressing frame.
In the dressing frame, the warp is wound from the eight cylinders on to the
weaving beam. In its progress it passes throi^h a warp reed of brass wires,
and by means of a small roller is spread into a horizontal plane. Sizing, that
is, paste or starch, ia then applied to it by a cylinder turning in a wooden
trough filled with cold paste, the superfluous moisture is squeezed out by the
action of a second cylinder, and the moisture which it had imbibed viih the
sizing is squeezed out; as the warp advances it passes between flat brushes, so
LANCASHIRE.
constructed that tliey only touch the yam in one direction of their movement.
It is then dried by being passed over a series of tin cylinders heated by steam.
and the process is accelerated by a fan of three wings, which directs a powerful
stream of hot air against the warp. When dry, the threads pass through a
system of looped twines, called heddles, and through a rcod to the weaving
beam. The dressing machine is double, four warping cylinders giving out the
yam at one end and four at the other, but the threads from both pass through
the same heddles and reed to the wea^Tng beam. Tlie general outline of the
operation of weaving is familiar to most pei-sons ; but it will perhaps be best
to explain it by reference to a common loom.
The warp is wound
roimd a weaving beam
placed at the extremity
of the loom, remote from
theopcrative. The alter-
nate threads of the warp
are kept separate by rods,
and each alternate set
of warp yams passes
through a heddle. In
very complicated work,
several heddles are em- ^ ■
ployed, hut only two sets ^
ai-e used for the weaving — -
of common cloth. Hcd- . . ^ --.__
dies are lliin slips of —.-.-_
26 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
wood from which t^vines looped in the middle are suspended, through
which the warp yams are alternately drawn, half through the front and half
through the back heddle. They are so suspended from the framework of the
loom as to be alternately raised or depressed by treddles, or levers, connected
with the heddles, which the weaver moves by the pressure of the foot. In
front of the heddles is a light wooden frame suspended from the top of the
loom so as to s^ving freely ; this is called the batten or lay. The lower bar of
tliis frame is the reed, an oblong frame divided
into numerous compartments by brass or iron i
-wares fixed at equal intervals. These divisions ^
were formerly made of split reeds, and hence the instrument takes its
name. One thread of the warp passes through each interval or dent of the
reed. In front of the weaver is the cylinder round which the cloth is
wound as fast as it is woven. The weaver is provided with a shuttle, which is
shaped like a canoe, and holds within it a cop or bobbin of weft yarn, which
revolves and gives out thread as it is wanted through a hole in the side. This
is placed between the alternate yams of the warp, and a string being fastened
to each end, in the middle of which
is a kind of handle called the picking-
peg, it can be shot backward and
forward by a jerk.* The weaver
sitting down at the front of the
loom presses with one of his feet on the treddle, which brings down the
corresponding heddle with its share of warp and raises the other. He then,
by a smart jerk, diives the shuttle between the warp yams from one side
of the loom to the other, and the cop of yam within the shuttle gives out
a shoot of weft in its passage. He then depresses the other treddle, which of
course reverses the position of the heddles, and then yams and jerks the
shuttle back again, throwing out in its passage a second shoot of yam. Afl«r
every cast of the shuttle, he pulls toward him the batten, or lay, -with its reed,
which drives home to the rest of the web the weft yam given out by the
preceding casts of the shuttle. As the web is woven it is woimd off on the
cylinder.
The fineness or coarseness of the web is obviously measurable by the
number of dents in the reed; and it is equally obvious that any irregularity
in the intervals between the dents woidd produce an unsightly inequality in
the cloth. Hence the reedmaker is a very important mechanist in furnishing
the implements for weaving, particidarly for very fine and close textures. A
* The shuttle was formerly thrown by the hand, as it still is in the finer processes of weaving.
The picking-peg was invented by Mr. John Kay of Bury, in 1738, and simple as the contrivance may
appear, it more than doubled the productiveness of the loom. Instead of being rewarded for his
invention, Kay was persecuted as a dangerous innovator ; he was driven from his native land by those
who thought that his invention would diminish the demand for labour, and he died in Paris a heart-
broken exile.
tA>-CASHrRB. 27
very ingenious macliinc for the construction of reeds liaa been recently made
by Mr. Chapman of Manchester. It supplies the wire, cuts it to the requisite
length, fixes and binds it at the required intervals with the most perfect accu-
racy, and performs all this with a rapidity and precision which can scarcely be
surpassed by any other machinery. As it is necessary that the wires for the
dent^ should he of equal thickness throughout, the machine draws and flattens
the wire through cylindrical rollers; and there is a contrivance for throwing
the machinery out of gear when any imperfection or inequality occurs in the
wire. The mode of counting the dents in a reed varies in different localities;
Mr. Chapman distinguishes his by the number of hundred dents in a yard.
He shewed us one reed which contained the amazing number of 4800 dents
in the yard, that is to say, 133 in an inch — so that his macliine had actually
made 266 divisions of a single inch, mathematically exact, both in parallelism
and equality.
In order that the weaving should be perfect, great care is necessary in all
the preliminary arrangements of the warp yam, which must be extended on
the loom in parallel lines, and with an equal degree of tension. The rods
which separate the alternate threads, technically called lease-rods, are to be set
so as to keep the threads which are to go through one heddle quite distinct
from those belonging to the other. Having received his yarn in a bundle, the
weaver first roUs it regularly on the yarn cylinder, keeping the threads distinct
by an instrument called a ravel, which is in fact a coarse kind of reed. After
the warp is wound on the cylinder, the operation of " drawing-in" commences ;
that is, the alternate threads arc to be drawn through their respective hcalds
or heddles, and all the threads through the dents of the reed. The instriunent
used in this process is called a sley, or reed-
hook, and is so constructed as to take two
threads through every dent or interval of the
reed. In reeds of very high number, for
weaving the finest muslins, the " drawing-in"
is an operation of great nicety, requiring both
sharpness of sight and delicacy of manipnlation ;
and the reed-hooks employed are made of the ,
finest and best tempered steel; but in ordinary —
cloth the process is simple, and is usually per-
formed by women.
The lease, or separation of the alternate threads in the warp yam, is made
by the pins in the warping mill, and is preserved by the lease rods. These
rods being tied together at the ends, secure the permanency of the lease and
guide the operative in drawing the altemate yams through the heddles. To
facilitate the process, the beam on which the warp yam has been wound is
suspended a little above the heddles, so as to allow the yam to hang down
perpendicularly. The operative then opens the loop in each of the twines of
28 EXGLAND IN THE KIXETEESTU CENTIRY :
ttc heddlcs successively, and through each draws a wai-p thread. This is there-
fore an operation not very un-
hkc tlireading a needle, ha\'inf;
its eye in the middle instead
of the end. After the threads
have been passed sinRlythrough
the loops or eyes of the hcddles,
they are drawn in pairs through
the dents of the reed. The
hc<l(lles are then mounted with
■ the cords by which they are
- moved, and the reed being
,' placed in the batten, every
thing is ready for the weaver
to commence his operations.
The power-loom is now
generally used for tlie weav-
ing of plain cloth, and for
various kinds of twilled and
figured goods. Mr. Roberts
" "" is the patentee of the power-
loom most commonly used; but many other mechanists have produced
various contrivances for wea\ing by machinery, and there can be no doubt
that manual labour, at least for the coarser kinds of goods, must rapidly
fall into disuse. In one respect the power-loom has a very obrious advantage
over the hand-loom: the batten, lay or lathe, to which the reed is attached,
drives home the weft to the rest of the web after it has been shot from the
spindle; now a weaker or stronger blow of this lathe alters the thickness of
the cloth, and after any interruption, the most experienced weaver finds it
difBcidt to commence with a blow of precisely the same force as that with
which he left off. In the power -loom the lathe is easily adjusted to give a
steady certain blow, and when once regulated by the engineer, it moves with
unvarying precision from the beginning to the end of the piece. Hence
power-loom cloth is always of a more equable and regular texture than that
woven by hand.
Power-looms are generally placed in sheds, and lighted from the top by a
single range of windows to every row of looms. The weavers, or rather the
tentei-s, have very little to do besides watching the machinery and correcting
any defects in the materials to be woven. As the labour is light, it is usually
performed by women or young persons ; and we were informed that the business
is so simple as to be easily learned in a month or six weeks.
The cloth when woven is either made up for sale in an unbleached state, or
sent to the bleach-works, where, as we shall hereafter see, it goes through a
I.AKCASHIRK- 29
series of processes not less ingenious, and scarcely less complicated than those
which have teen just described. Having noticed the several processes dis-
played in a cotton mill, it remains to examine the structure of the edifice in
which all this various and complicated machinery is contained. This is a
subject of much greater importance than is generally supposed, for the iuchitcc-
tural arrangements of the null exercise very great influence, not only on the
perfection of the manufacture, but also on the health and morals of the
operatives. Mr. Fairbairn of Manchester, in addition to his groat eminence as
an engineer, is the most distinguished authority in factory architecture, and the
mills erected under his superintendence may fairly be taken as models.
The moving power may either be the steam-engine or the water-wheel, or
a combination of both. There are few opportunities for the erection of water-
wheels in the immediate vicinity of Manchester, and I believe that all the
town mills are set in motion by steam. But in the romantic valleys and dales,
north and east of the town, at a distance of from ten to thirty miles, waterfalls
are brought to aid steam and save the consumption of coals. Formerly, the
steam-engine was imbedded in the structure of the building in which it was
placed, so that when it was necessary to be removed, a great part of the
masonry had to be taken down ; modern engines are usually constructed more
like those used in steam-packets, they arc secured by bolts to the floor and
walls, and can be taken away without any displacement of the structure. The
boilers which supply steam are usually pkced in an external shed. The
engine or engines, for two are sometimes combined, work by cranks and cogs.
so ENGLAXD IN THE NIXETEEXTII CEXTVBY :
SO as to set in motion the horizontal shaft to which the fly-wheel belongs.
From this shaft, motion is communicated to the main upright shaft, which
extends from the foundation to the upper story of the mill. This again sets in
motion horizontal shafts extending along the ceiling of each story in the build-
ing. The advantage of ha^•ing two engines arises from the working of them in
such a way that the one exerts its greatest force when the other has the least,
BO that tlie joint operation of both gives an equable motion to the shafts, which
being smooth, highly polished, and fixed in firm bearings of brass work,
silently and evenly, without producing any of those vibrations which those
who only know the working of steam-engines from the experience of a steam-
packet might expect, and which I am informed was frequently felt in the older
factories.
Though water may not be wanting to drive a wheel, the \icinity of a river
or canal is almost essential to a mill, in order to facilitate the conveyance of
fiiol, to supply the boilers, and to afford good drainage. Hence, most of the
mills in Manchester are close either to the Irwcll or the Medlock ; and the
noble Mersey is studded with factories for miles upon miles of its course.
Compactness is a very important consideration in the construction of a mill.
It is desirable that as little time as possible should be lost in remo^-ing the
cotton from the scene of one set of operations to the stage of its next process.
Hence, mills are erected of seven or eight stories in height, even in those
localities where the saving of ground need not be taken into consideration.
The stairs are now, almost without
exception, of stone ; the staircase
is of the kind usually called a well,
that is, it winds spirally round a
hollow shaft in the centre. As
communication by the stairs would
in many cases be tedious and fa-
tiguing, the centre of the well is
occupied by a contrivance called
the hoist, which may be briefly
described as a movable closet that
can ascend or descend at pleasure
through the shaft of the well, and
land the persons in it on any of
the floors of the nuU, through
■ doors which open from the shaft;
on the lobbies: A A and B B are
the walls of the well shaft, C is
part of a door in the wall B,
leading to the floor or some lobby
of the mill ; E is the hoist, which is raised by the rope G. This rope passes
LANCASHIRE. 31
over a system of wheels and pulleys, being worked by the counterbalancing
weight F, which ascends as the hoist descends, and vice versd, H is a passage
leading to apartments in the mill ; I I is the double rope pulley, by pressing
on which the persons in the hoist can either ascend or descend as they please.
This very economic and benevolent contrivance for saving the fatigue of
ascending and descending stairs, was the joint invention of Messrs. -W. Strutt
and Frost, of Derby.
The most scrupidous attention is paid to cleanliness in almost every mill ;
those which were exceptions are fast disappearing. But cleanliness is found in
Manchester where it woidd be least expected, among the firemen and attend-
ants on the boilers. The coals are raised from their bins in a yard by a series
of buckets, similar to those of the dredging machines used for deepening the
beds of rivers, thence they are emptied into a wagon with a drop-bottom,
which moves on a railway over the feeding-hoppers attached to each ftunace,
and are supplied to the fires in the exact proportion required to generate steam
necessary for the work.
Not only are the floors and walls kept free from the slightest impurity, but
the overseers take care that the children should keep themselves neat. They
go round every morning and reprove those who have failed to wash themselves
after breakfast; the delinquents are without excuse, as soap, water and towels
are provided gratuitously for their use. In many mills, boxes and nests of
drawers are provided, in which the female operatives deposit their street
dresses, and put on their working clothes before they begin their labours.
There is also a separate washing and dressing room for the women, from which
as well as from their other places of retirement, the male operatives are care-
fully excluded. We have been much interested by observing the difference of
appearance between the females when at work, and when they are going home
to dinner ; they do not exhibit any trace of their occupation when they appear
in the street; many of them indeed display in the arrangement of their dress
and person a neatness and taste not unbecoming a higher walk of life.
The proper ventilation of the rooms is now regarded as an object of
primary importance in the construction of miUs. Taylor's mill, near Preston,
is in this respect a perfect model ; it has in every room a double system of
ventilators: the series at the top of each room removing the foul air, while
fresh air is supplied by those near the floor.
The mills are warmed by steam-pipes, from which some portion of the
steam is permitted to escape and mix with the surrounding atmosphere. We
have already noticed that a moist warm temperature is essential to the perfec-
tion of cotton manufactures, and especially to the spinning of the finer yams ;
but the influence of such an atmosphere on the health of the operatives appear-
ing questionable, we sought information from various medical gentlemen who
had enjoyed long opportunities for observing the vital statistics of factories.
They unanimously condemned the system of warming apartments by stoves or
I oJ3 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY I
hot-air pipes ; they declared that a dry, heated atmosphere is pernicious, and
referred to the experience of the calico-printers, and of those who are in the
habit of using Arnott's stoves. "VVe subsequently found that bleachers and
calico-printers have generally adopted the system of heating by steam, in con-
sequence of the ill effects produced by dry hot air on the health of the
operatives.
Eegularity and precision are required in all the operations of a cotton mill,
and these are enforced by the accurate working of the machinery. Accidents
from the machinery are of very rare occurrence ; the most dangerous parts of
the turning shafts, which almost alone are perilous to the incautious, are either
protected by wooden boxes or placed where there is rarely occa.sion to pass
them. The driving-straps ai'c dangerous only to those who voluntarily
encounter peril. Were the proprietors to leave the dangerous pai'ts of their
macliinery so exposed as to produce great liability to accident, they would not
only be needlessly cruel, but stupidly blind to their own interests. Any acci-
dent would produce a derangement of machinery, the repairing of which would
cost infinitely more than the cases or boxes necessary to prevent its occurrence.
In one mill, we are told that slight cuts and bruises were frequently occasioned
by the tricks which young operatives played upon each other when employed
to oil the machinery, but in most of the instances in our inquiry from the
operatives respecting the frequency of accidents, they laughingly asked if we
thought workpeople were such fools as to hurt themselves designedly.
Most modern mUls are built fire-proof; those which are not so, have gene-
rally a fire-engine of their o^vn, in the use of wliich the operatives are occasion-
ally exercised. It is now also the favourite plan to have the cotton raised by
a crane in its raw state to the upper story; it then descends from floor to floor
in the successive stages of its manufacture, until on the ground-floor it is
woven into cloth by the power-loom.
The amount of capital invested in a spinning mill is usually calculated
by the number of spindles required, which not unfrequently amounts to one
hundred thousand. Some yeai's ago the cost of a mill was estimated at a
pound per spindle ; but in consequence of the progress of mechanical improve-
ment, the cost is not now rated higher than 13*. 4rf. per spindle. The rapidity
with wliich the great engineering houses can stock a mill with all its engines
and machinery is scarcely credible; they are enabled to do so by having
accurate wooden models of all the several j)arts, from which castings are easily
taken, and the framework is thus got ready with the greatest expedition.
Ha\4ng gone through a cotton mill, let us now breathe a little fresh air, or
at least the atmosphere that bears the name in the manufacturing districts.
Manchester is watered by the Irwell and its tributaries, the Medlock and the
Irk, and no thi-ee streams in the universe are forced to do such an amount of
work and scavengering in proportion to their size. The Irwell separates Man-
chester fi-om the borough of Salford, as the Thames di>'ides Southwark from
laxcAsiiiuE. 33
Lomlon; but the connexion between Manchester and Salfortl almost amounts
to identity; the same occupations aic pursued in both; many who have places
of buisinesfi in one, reside in the otiior, and the boundaiy between them is so
narrow that it is crossed in a moment. This faciUly did not always exist: the
old bridge over the Irwcll, which was steep, narrow, and inconvenient, was
continued from the fourteenth century until the September of 1837, when it
was stopped by order of the authorities, and a temporary wooden bridge
erected preparatory to the taking down of the ancient structure, and the
building of a new bridge more suited to the exigencies of the locality. This
was chiefly owing to the exertions of the Manchester Improvement Committee :
at their instigation the venerable bridge was indicted at tlie Quarter Sessions
of Salford, October 1836, for insufliciency of footway, roadway, and M'ater-
way; not a single legal antiquarian appeared to plead for the antique pile; it
was taken down, and the new bridge was opened on the 20th of March 1839,
the anniversary of her Majesty's accession, in whose honour the bridge received
the name of Victoria.
The view of and from the Victoria Bridge offers many objects of interest
to the spectator. On the
Manchester side we catch
a glance of the old Col-
legiate Church and Cheet-
ham College, both of which
we shall subsequently visit;
while in the direction of
Salford we see the best con-
structed and tallest chim- ;
neys of factories that are
to be found in the district.
Indeed some of them have
a good architectural effect,
and were they built of
stone instcadof brick, when
they cease to vomit forth smoke they might pass for triumphal columns.
The river ia really unsightly. Gaa drainings, the refuse of factories, unite
with countless other abominations to contaminate the stream, and render it
equally fatal to animal and vegetable life. The barges which pass up and
down add to the sombre effect of ita dark colour; they are clumsy, heavily
constructed vessels, and are generally propelled by poles or shafis. The eye
accustomed to the dashing steamers and trim-budt wherries of the Thames,
can receive Uttle pleasure from contemplating the navigation of the IrweU.
The aspect of the Medlock is still worse, — as seen from the bridge leading into
Chorlton, it is like nothing but an overgrown puddle. It is, however, unfair
to jufljge of these rivers in their artificial state. The upper vale of the Med-
34 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
lock offers a most tempting excursion to geologists. If we cross the bridge
and visit the crescent of Salford^ we shall have a delightful landscape view,
exhibiting what the Irwell might have been had not its waters been enslaved
to cotton.
Manufactures haunt us even here; but the immense pile of building seen
to the right is not a cotton mill, it is a bleach-work, erected there on account
of the valuable supply of water afforded by the river. In spite of our tolerance,
or rather our liking for manufactures, we could wish that the Adelphi Bleach-
works were erected in any other place. The entire plain formed by the
winding of tlie IrweU at this spot, would have formed a noble park for the
recreation of the wearied operatives of Manchester and Salford; they would
have been enabled to compare their condition with that of rural life — for a
considerable farm and many detached cottages are within the field of view —
while their love of picturesque landscape, which strange as it may seem is
stronger in no class than the operatives of Manchester, would have been
gratified by the rising grounds of Kersall and Broughton, studded as they are
M'ith mansions and villas of varied architecture.
Tliere ai-e a number of book-stalls in Manchester. One of great celebrity
stood near the entrance into Salford, which is now chiefly remembered on
account of its connexion with an interesting personal history we shall take
the liberty to narrate, suppressing, for obvious reasons, the name of the hero.
Some thiity or forty years ago a young carpenter, in a Welch county, was
drawn for the militia ; he had no taste for a soldier's life, with its great dangers
and small pay. In addition to the ordinary mysteries of his own trade, he had
acquired great skill in turning, was a tolerable wheelwright, and when no more
experienced workman could be had, was found able to mend the machinery
of a mill, and even to suggest some mechanical improvements which his
neighbours were too obstinate to adopt. After a very brief period of service
he deserted and came to London, where he obtained employment in a lathe
manufactory. Here he soon became conspicuous for his mechanical skill, and
the ingenuity of his contrivances to diminish labour and perfect the machines
he constructed. While he was rapidly advancing in the confidence of his
employer and the estimation of his comrades, he happened to meet in the
street a sergeant belonging to his former regiment, by whom he was recognised.
It was necessary for him to quit London in order to escape the consequences
of his desertion; he sought shelter and employment in several pro\'incial
towns, and at length came to Manchester. He had no acquaintances in the
town, and was for some time unable to procure work; during this interval of
reluctant leisure, his attention was attracted by the sight of some mathematical
books on the old stall in Salford; he stopped to look at them, entered into
conversation with the proprietor, who was an intelligent humourist, and soon
inspired him with an interest in his fortunes.
One morning as the adventurer went to consult his fi-iend at the book-stall
LANCASHIRE. 36
on his chances of obtaining employment, a gentleman came up to purchase
some work on practical mechanics. As he turned over the plates, which
appeared very complex, he got a little puzzled, and said to himself in a half-
whisper, " I cannot understand this ! " His perplexity and anxiety were so
evident that the young stranger was induced to come to his assistance; he
explained the diagrams in such lucid and simple language, that the gentleman
was prompted to inquire into his history. The tale was soon told ; and the
keeper of the book-stall added to it, that since the young man had come to
Manchester he had been very anxious to procure work, and that he had
employed the interval in the study of mathematics.
" Do you understand anything of the management of lathes, young man?"
asked the gentleman.
" Yes, sir, for lathe-making was the business in which I was engaged."
" Well ; come to my house to-morrow. I have got down a lathe from one
of the first makers in London, but owing to some peculiarities in its construc-
tion, I fear that I cannot easily find a person qualified to set it up."
On the morrow the young man went at the appointed time to the house of
his new employer. The lathe was unpacked, and he at once recognised it as
one of his own construction. He mentioned the fact to the gentleman, and
identified his work by specifying some private marks on the machinery.
When his task was accomplished, the young man solicited and obtained leave
to try some experiments on turning spindles. He produced some specimens
so obviously superior to the spindles then in use, that his patron was induced
to advance him a sum sufficient to set him up in the turnery business. The
new spindles were soon eagerly sought; their maker at the same time gained
opportunities of becoming acquainted with the several processes of a cotton
mill, and as he studied them, improvement after improvement was opened to
his mind. His fame as a mechanist rapidly increased; men of wealth sought
a partnership with the man of talent; capital was supplied to carry out the
suggestions of ingenuity; and at the present moment the hero of this history
is at the head of an establishment, the fame of which extends through both
hemispheres. After having heard this history, it was impossible to avoid
feeling some regret for the disappearance of the old book-stall in Salford.
In rambling through the old streets round the Collegiate Church, the
traveller will be amused to find that one of them bears the ominous name of
" Hanging Dit^h." Local tradition declares that it derived this name from
having been the scene of the execution of several Romish clergy and recusants
in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It is now chiefly remarkable for the Corn
Exchange, one of the most chaste and elegant of the many structures for
which Manchester is indebted to the taste of Mr. Lane. It is an Ionic struc-
ture, adapted from the Temple of Ceres in Attica; unfortunately, its situation,
in a narrow obscure street, prevents it receiving all the admiration which it
merits.
36 KNOLAXD IN THE NIXETFEXTH rEXTI'RY I
At the dining hour in Manchester — one o'clock — ^niills are closed, Wtire-
houscs deserted, shops turned into solitudes, and business of every kind
suspended. Many writers have attempted to delineate the impetuous rush
which at the stroke of the single hour takes place in the streets; to us it
appeared a li^4ng picture of the French in the Russian campaign flying before
the haurras of the Cossacks, or speeding in their half-famished stiite to plunder
the magazines of Smolensko. The inish is fierce while it lasts, but in a few
minutes it is over, and Manchester for half-an-hour is the City of the Silent.
As two o'clock approaches the diners are seen returning, individually or in
groups, with slow and measured steps, to their respective duties; but it is full
thi'cc o'clock before the full career of business is resumed, and thus the two best
hours of the day arc all but wholly wasted in Manchester.
Some efforts have been made and are making to conquer this tyrant custom,
but it appears inveterate, for it is regularly observed by many of those who
condemn it most loudly. It cannot be ascribed to indolent or luxurious
habits : in no part of the world do men of business allow themselves such little
recreation as in Manchester ; they commence their toil at an early hour in the
morning, they continue it to a late hour of the night: the dining hour is their
only interval of relaxation, and though it is productive of many inconveniences,
it will, we think, be found unalterable.
Entering Piccadilly from Mai-ket-street, attention is directed to the im-
mense warehouses just behind the Infirmary, in George-street and Mosley-
street: the largest, and most appropriate in its style of architecture, being
a plain substantial buUding of brick, belongs to Sir T. Pottor and Co.
Oldham-road is nearly a continuous street the whole way to Oldham, a dis-
tance of about seven miles, but since the opening of the Leeds and Manchester
railway, its importance as a thoroughfare has been greatly diminished. The
road or street passes through the district of Ancoats, which is the chief abode
of the operative population, and is therefore worthy of a visit, which shall be
paid at a future opportunity. Continuing along the London-road, we reach the
new terminus of the Manchester and Birmingham railway, which is now in
process of erection. No railroad on which we have travelled possesses a termi-
nus so favourably circumstanced ; it is almost in the centre of the business part
of the town, and yet it has facilities of ingress and egress, equal if not superior
to those which are located in the outskirts. This railway is a singular monu-
ment of enterprise and speculation : Manchester has already a railway commu-
nication with Birmingham by the Grand Junction line, and the saving of time
by the new line wiU not at most exceed an hour.
In the centre of Ardwick Green, there is a pretty miniature lake; the
houses round the green are plain substantial dwellings, but those on the south
side are detached buildings, each surrounded with a little ornamental plantation,
which with the lake produces a very pleasing effect.
At Victoria Park, an attempt has been made to combine domestic comfort
LAxrAsiimE. 37
with architectural taste. The rapid conversion of the private residences in
Mosley- street and many other parts of Manchester into warehouses, induced a
company of gentlemen to purchase this paik, ivhich contains about 140 acres of
land, in order to stud it with villas, which would unite the advantage of vicinity
to the town with a freedom from the smoke of factories and with the privacy
of a country residence. The plan was well arranged ; the park has been laid
out so aa to make the most of the space, for it contains five miles of walk-i, and
the villas already erected are for the most part in good taste.
The Oxford-road, adjoining Victoria Park, is adorned on each side with
villas and private residences, superior on the whole to those on any other
outlet from the town. At some short distance from it, is the subuib of Green
Heys, occupied for the most part by a colony of Germans,
Oxford-street deteriorates as we get back towards Manchester, and near its
upper end reveals a nest of filthy hovels, called Little Ireland. A largo brick
building near All-Souls Church is used as a college, principally for the educa-
tion of Unitarian ministers.
Oxford-road leads us into Mosley-street, near St. Peter's Church and the
Scottish Kirk, which are so placed as to destroy their architectural effect.
The Hall of the Natural History Society, in Peter-street, contains the finest
zoolc^cal collection of any
provincial museum in the
empire, and probably in
Europe. It is particularly
rich in ornithology: the birds
are weU preserved, and ai-
ranged with great taste and
skill.
The field of Peterloo,
now covered with buildings,
is in the immediate vicinity
of the Museum : it was the scene of a collision between the yeomanry cavalry
and a multitude assembled to hear Mr. Henry Hunt in the year 1817.
Though many years have since elapsed, the angry feehngs to which the sad
event gave rise have not yet wholly subsided, and the stranger who makes
inquiries on the subject will be pained to find that any reference to it awakes
a bitterness of tone and sentiment which he coiJd not have anticipated.
The Town-hall of Manchester is a very handsome stone building, from a
design of the late Mr. Goodwin. The interior arrangements have been sacrificed
to obtain one large room for public meetings. This hall is 130 feet long by
38 feet wide. Its central dome is copied from the Athenian Temple of the
Winds, and is a truly classical structure. The walls and dome are covered
with fresco paintings, executed by Mr. Agho. The first view of the frescoes
is very striking, but they will not bear a close examination; the drawing
38 EXGI,ANH IN THE N
ia generally incorrect, and the designs verge on the very consummation
of absurdity. Some arc allegorical, some mythological, and some lustorical,
while in others, the three
styles are incongruously
blended. For instance, the
dome represents Britan-
nia commanding Peace to
descend on Europe and
restore the reign of Art
and Virtue. We have a
young urchin with a little
ship in his hand, such as
a boy might take to float
in a pond — and this is the
allegorical representation
of the commercial enterprise of Manchester ! A female bearing the fasces
overthrows two figures; and this is not, as we should have supposed, a village
maid terrifying impudent assailants with a fagot, but represents constitutional
liberty defeating tyranny and hypocrisy! It will be sufficient to enumerate the
subjects of some of the other paintings: we have Lord Macartney and the
Emperor of China; the Argonautic Expedition; the supposed discovery of
America by Sebastian Cabot; the British Empire protected by Strength,
Wisdom, and Justice, really embodies Mrs. Malaprop's "allegory on the banks
of the Nile," that river appearing in the groiip under the significant symbol
of an Afiican mounted on a sphynx ; Nadir-Shah giving audience to an
English Embassy; the Deitiesof Olympus in council; the four Cardinal Virtues;
and the formation of Man by Prometheus ! These frescoes are not the only
nor even the worst defect of the hall : it has been built with such a disregard
to acoustics, that in whatever position a speaker may be placed, his voice can
only be heard at a short distance.
Our attention was directed more than once to the number of wholesale
houses for the sale of " small wares." On inquiry we found that by this phrase
was meant tapes, bobbins, etc.; for the manufacture of which, several "iill>'
exist in Manchester. The machinery used does not differ materially from
that employed in other cotton fitctories; but the quantities produced are truly
surprising. We have been assured that one mill alone weaves more than
1,000,000 yards of tape every week, which in the course of a year would give
a length of above 30,000 miles, considerably more than the equatorial circum-
ference of the earth.
The Old Bailey Prison, in Salford, covers several acres of ground, and is
one of the best conducted prisons in England ; visitors are not very readily
admitted, but a good view of its extent and the general arrangement of the
buildings can be obtained fiom the Bolton railway.
LANCASHIRE. 39
In Salford we see evidences in every direction that it is a place of very recent
growth, and one in which population has increased with greater rapidity than
the means of accommodation. The number of low lodging houses in several
districts is truly calamitous, and the anecdotes related of the amount of indivi-
duals found living in one crowded apartment are frightful. We shall again
have occasion to refer to this pregnant source of social evils, — at present we
must content ourselves with noting the evidence that both the wealth and
the misery of Manchester have been of recent and of rapid growth. Hence
there exist abundant materials for the history of its staple trade, and it will
be interesting to glance at the particulars of its rise and progi'ess before in-
vestigating the few remnants of a more remote antiquity preserved in the
neighbourhood.
It has been already observed that certain woollen goods called cottons (a
corruption of " coatings") and fixstians were manufactured in Manchester and
its neighbourhood before the reign of Elizabeth. Indeed so celebrated even
in that age were the Lancashire weavers, that linen yam was imported from
Ireland and sent back after it had been woven into cloth. Cotton wool was
probably introduced as a substitute for animal wool by the Flemings who
sought shelter in England from the tyranny of the Duke of Alva, many of
whom settled in and round Manchester. During a long period linen warps
were used for all the goods in which cotton was employed, and in consequence
great quantities of linen yarn were imported from Ireland, Scotland, and
Northern Germany. The cotton weft was however usually spun in Lancashire,
generally by the family and neighbours of the weaver. About the year 1760,
though nothing but the coarse kinds of cotton, such as ftistians and dimities,
were produced, yet the demand for these goods began to exceed the supply,
and the weaver became dependent on the spinner.
We have conversed with very old persons who remember when the weavers
or their factors travelled about from cottage to cottage with their packhorses
to collect yam from the spinsters, often paying a most exorbitant price for it,
which absorbed the profits of weaving. This was the commencement of the
system of infant labour, which was at its worst and greatest height before any-
body thought of a factory. Spinning was so profitable that every child in the
cottage was forced to help in the process — ^picking the cotton, winding the
yam, and arranging the card-ends. When the father was a weaver, and the
mother a spinner, which was very commonly the case, the tasks imposed upon
the children were most onerous: one of my informants, a man over eighty
years of age, declared that he never thought of his infancy without shuddering.
The invention of the fly-shuttle by Mr. John Kay of Bury, already men-
tioned, gave a great impulse to weaving, which was increased in 1760, when
his son, Mr. Robert Kay, added to it the invention of " the drop box," by
means of which a weaver could at pleasure use any one of three shuttles, each
containing a different coloui'cd weft. The one-thread wheel, where each
40 ENGLAND IN THE NINKTEENTII CENTURY:
spinner could only make one roving or one thread, was inadequate to supply
the rapidly increasing demand for yam, and the improvements in weaving
directed the inventive faculties of English mechanists to search for the means
of obtaining similar facilities in spinning.
The elongation of metal bars and plates by passing them between cylinders
appears to have first suggested the idea that carded rolls of wool and cotton
might be lengthened into rovings by the same means. This application of the
principle was first made by Mr. John Wyatt of Birmingham, who took out a
patent for the invention, in the name of his partner Mr. Paul, in 1738. The
machines constructed by Wyatt, however excellent in principle, were so imper-
fect in their details, that they could not be profitably worked ; Wyatt had not
the capital necessary to carry out his plans, nor the steady application to con-
duct the varied experiments by which a mechanical principle can alone be
brought into complete operation. Moreover, Wyatt was quite unacquainted
with the cotton business, and was therefore very likely to follow the analogy of
laminating metals too far, without sufficiently allowing for the great diflference
of materials.
We do not pretend to such a knowledge of mechanism as would enable us to
pronounce positively on this subject; but so far as we can judge, Wyatt does not
seem to have taken into account the modifications of his principle required by
the peculiar staple of cotton. The machine as first constructed had but one
pair of rollers, and could not therefore remedy any defect in the arrangement
of the fibres which remained after cai'ding; even when two pairs of rollers
w^ere used, they appear to have been employed merely to elongate the roving
w'ithout any reference to improving the regularity of the fibres. The arranging
of the spindles and bobbins in a frame, and the turning of the bobbins and
spindles by distinct wheels, was an invention of the Italian silk-throwsters,
which Sir T. Lombe had introduced into his great mill at Derby ; but in silk
spinning, rollers are not necessary, because the filament spun by the worm is a
continuous thread, incapable of being further attenuated.
It may be right to repeat what has been before stated, that the difficulty to
be overcome in mechanical cotton-spinning is not the twisting of the yam, for
this process, or at least one very analogous to it, had been long familiar to the
silk-throwsters; the real difficulty was to get a roving evenly attenuated, ready
to receive the twist by which it was converted into yarn. Wyatt's principle of
employing rollers to effect this object, no doubt excited the attention of many
mechanists, who tried to apply it in various forms. Thomas Highs, a reed-
maker of Leigh, appears to have made a machine in which rollers were
employed for spinning cotton in the year 1767, and he communicated his
invention to John Kay, a clockmaker, whom he employed to make a model of
the machine, with brass wheels and less clumsy contrivances than those he had
himself devised. Kay is said to have communicated this invention to Ark-
wright, who saw it^ value, and devoted aU his energies to perfect its application.
LANCASHIRE. 41
There is no question more disputed in the history of invention than the
relative claims of Highs and Arkwright, yet to a cool inquirer it does not
appear of very difficult solution. There is a wide distinction between the dis-
covery of a principle, and the practical application of that principle : it is the
latter that gives any principle its marketable value. The polarity of the
magnet appears to have been known long before anybody dreamed of apply-
ing it to the purposes of navigation, and countless experiments were tried
before some fortunate inventor produced the mariner's compass. In like
manner, the principle of spinning cotton by rollers unquestionably was first
brought forward by Wyatt : it only remains then to determine whether Highs
or Arkwright had the better claim to the practical application of the principle
after it had remained dormant for more than thirty years.
Taking Arkwright's case exclusively on the hostile evidence given by
Highs and Kay when Arkwright's patent was contested, in 1785, the matter
resolves itself into the very simple question, whether had Highs or Arkwright
the clearer perception of the value of Wyatt's principle? It is admitted on all
hands that Highs never completed a spinning machine, that he never exhibited
the model said to have been made by Kay, and that he did not communicate
his invention to any manufacturer who would have advanced the capital
necessary to give it a fair trial. At most then. Highs can only lay claim to a
project, which most probably would have perished in his hands; for had he
known its value or utility, he had more available means than Arkwright for
obtaining aid to bring it to perfection.
Highs had some reputation as a mechanist; he was a reed-maker, and
therefore known to many cotton-manufacturers; indeed in 1772 his mechanical
ingenuity was rewarded by a present of two hundred guineas firom the manu-
facturers of Manchester, for his invention of a spinning machine which was
exhibited at the Exchange. Had such a man been convinced of the practica-
bility of his project, he would easily have found means for bringing it into
actual work. A loose notion floating through the mind, followed by two or
three imperfect, and confessedly imperfect, attempts for its realization, may
give a man a title to ingenuity, but are far from establishing a claim to
invention.
Arkwright was a barber at Bolton : he possessed the secret of some chemical
process for dyeing the hair, which was of some value at a time when wigs
were universally worn; but he was so fond of making mechanical experiments,
that he neglected his trade and injured his circumstances. It is said that he
was engaged in an attempt to produce perpetual motion : this, however, is no
imputation against his intelligence, for he shared the folly with the greatest
mechanists of his day. It is very probable that he first heard of the principle
of spinning by rollers from Kay; but the conception of the entire process for
giving eflfect to that principle was indisputably Arkwright's own. He shewed
his knowledge of its value by abandoning his former business, by perseverance
o
42 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
in obtaining means to set up his first spinning machine as an experimental
model in the parlour of the Free Grammar School of Preston, and by his
abandoning Lancashire, where a marked hostility to machinery was at this
time evinced, in order to establish his cotton spinning at Nottingham.
Arkwright first applied to Messrs. "Wright the bankers, for some pecuniary
aid, which was granted on the condition of a share in the profits. The per-
fecting of the machine, however, required more time and a greater outlay of
capital than the bankers had anticipated; they therefore advised the adventurer
to obtain other assistance, and introduced him to Mr. Need, the partner of
Mr. Jedediah Strutt, who had some time before obtained a patent for a most
ingenious improvement of the stocking frame.
Mr. Strutt was one of the most remarkable and estimable men of his day;
originally educated as a farmer, he had directed his attention to mechanical
improvements, and had discovered the means of weaving ribbed stockings in
the stocking frame. He saw at a glance the merits of Arkwright's invention,
and the defects in the adjustment of the parts which impeded its working.
A partnership was proposed and accepted; the capital of Messrs. Need and
Strutt relieved Arkwright from pecuniary difficulties; he soon made his
machine practicable, and in 1769 he secured his invention by a patent. There
is reason to believe that Arkwright was more deeply indebted to the mechanical
genius of Mr. Jedediah Strutt than his friends have been willing to acknow-
ledge; but Mr. Strutt was already too rich in unquestioned fame to envy a
small share to others.
Arkwright's machine was the origin of the modem Throstle: it was first
set in motion by horse power, but it was subsequently driven by a water-
wheel, whence it received the name of the " water-frame." Some of Ark-
wright's original water-frames are, it is said, still in use at Crompton in
Derbyshire, the first extensive mill erected by him and his partners; but the
jealousy with which strangers are excluded from the establishment, renders it
difficult to obtain any positive knowledge on the subject.
The specification annexed to Arkwright's patent shews that his water
frame, in its principles, includes both the modem drawing frame and throstle.
The original purpose of the machine was to convert the rovings into yam;
but it was so obviously applicable to the formation of the rovings themselves,
that the drawing frame can scarcely be considered a separate invention. Ark-
wright applied his mind to every process used in the preparation of cotton,
and introduced improvements into them all. He may indeed be regarded as
the founder of the Factory system, for he established such a continuous union
between all the processes, and so multiplied the processes themselves, that it
was requisite to have the whole conducted in a single building.
It is now necessary to go back and examine a very diffigrent invention for
spinning, having no connexion in principle with that which has been just
described, though it has been united to it in the happiest combination. The
LANCASHIRE. 43
old principle of wool spinning was to draw out a definite length of roving
during the revolution of the spindle to which the end of the roving had been
previously attached, and this was effected by the hand-wheel, which the
spinner turned with one hand, while she drew out the roving and afterwards
wound it on the horizontal spindle with the other. About the year 1764,
James Hargreaves, a weaver, near Blackburn, having a wife and seven young
children to support from his earnings, felt very acutely the difficulty of obtain-
ing weft, the labours of his family being far from sufficient to procure him an
adequate supply. It happened that he observed a one-thread wheel overturned
upon the floor, when the wheel and spindle continued to revolve. This led
him to consider what would be the effect of placing the spindles perpendicularly
instead of horizontally,' and he rightly concluded that it would be possible to
make several spindles thus placed in a row, revolve by the turning of a single
wheel. In other words, he conceived the possibility of spinning several
threads at once. The machine which he invented was called the " Spinning
Jenny," probably because " Jenny" was a cant name for the old hand-wheel
which it superseded. A brief description of it may be interesting, for though
it has been long since superseded by the mule in the cotton manufacture, it is
still sometimes used in the spinning of coarse wool.
On the left side of the wooden frame is a system of spindles, set nearly
upright in horizontal bars, and secured by brass steps and rings. Each
spindle has at the lower end a whorl or whirl, round which a band passes to
set it in motion. This band also passes over a drum or cylinder placed just
in front of the lower extremity of the spindles, and the drum by a driving-
band receives motion from the large wheel which the spinner turns. Over
the spindles is a guiding wire, directed by a small wheel, round which a cord
passes to the farther end of the machine; by this cord the spinner moves the
guiding wire so as to regulate the winding of the yam on the cops.
To the right of the drum or cyUnder is a slanting frame, containing the
bobbins of rovings which are to be spun. On the frame is a carriage which
traverses backwards and forwards in groves, aided by friction-wheels, and
this carriage supports two notched cross rails, the upper of which is moveable,
so as to form a clasp. Through the notches of these rails the rovings pass to
the spindles.
The carriage being placed close to the spindles, and the rovings having
been drawn through the notches of the clasp, the spinner pulls the carriage
backwards until a sufficient length of rovings has been unrolled from the
bobbins ; he then fastens the clasp, and turning the wheel sets all the spindles
in motion by the driving band which goes over the drum. The drawing out
of the thread by p ullin g back the carriage and the spinning go on simultane-
ously, and the proportion between the two operations depends on the relative
action of the right and left hand of the spinner. When the threads are spun,
the clasp carriage is again pushed forward, and the spindles set in motion to
44 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY ;
take up the yam under the guidance of the faller wire. The clasp is then
raised^ a new series of rovings given out, and the former process repeated.
The spinning jenny is merely a multiple of the hand-wheel: it did not,
like the machines of Wyatt and Arkwright, establish any new principle, and
it was only applicable to the last stage of the process, the conversion of the
roving into yam. It was besides a domestic implement, and was soon intro-
duced into the houses and cottages of the Lancashire weavers: by its aid a
woman was enabled to spin as much yam as sixteen or even twenty persons
could produce with the common wheel, and the deficiency of weft which had
hitherto impeded the progress of the loom was supplied.
Hargreaves for some time kept his invention secret, using the jenny only
to obtain weft for his own loom. The vanity of his wife induced her to betray
the secret, the neighbouring spinners were alarmed — they feared that such an
invention would deprive them of employment — a mob assembled, forced
Hargreaves' house, broke his machinery to pieces, and menaced his life. He
removed to Nottingham, where he entered into partnership with Mr. John
James, and took out a patent for his invention. But having sold some jennies
before leaving Lancashire, to obtain clothing for his children, the patent could
not be sustained, and he lost all the fruits of his discovery. It has been
erroneously asserted, that he died in great distress; but though he did not
acquire a great fortune, his industry and activity enabled him to earn a
moderate competence, and bequeath a decent provision to his widow and
children.
Several circumstances contributed to retard the growth of the cotton
manufacture, particularly the laws made to protect the silk and woollen trades,
the hostility of the operatives to machinery, and the league which the Lan-
cashire manufacturers formed against Arkwright.
For the protection of the silk and woollen manufactures, an act was passed
in the reign of George I. prohibiting the use of printed or dyed calicoes,
which were then imported from India, under very heavy penalties: in the
following reign this was so far relaxed as to allow the printing of mixed goods
having a warp entirely of linen yam; the prohibition however against goods
made wholly of cotton was rigorously renewed.
It was not until yarn was spun by Arkwright's water-frame, that cotton
thread proper for warping could be obtained in England; the act which had
been directed against Indian goods, was now, contrary to the intention of its
framers, made to operate against English manufactures. The officers of excise
refused to let Arkwright's plain calicoes pass, unless they paid the same rate
of duty as Indian goods, and his printed calicoes were altogether prohibited.
Application was made to Parliament for relief; but strange to relate, the
proposal to put English-made calicoes on a legislative equality with other
domestic manufactures was opposed by all the cotton manufacturers of Lan-
cashire ! This opposition was so utterly without an object, that it has been
LANCASHIRE. 45
justly stigmatized as "one of the most signal instances on record of the blind-
ing effects of commercial jealousy."
Hostility to machinery was not confined to the working classes: many
persons in the middle and higher ranks shared in the delusion^ that machinery
would lessen the demand for labour, and throw multitudes out of employment.
They forgot that no combinlition of brass and iron, of wheels and screws,
can possibly tMnk, and therefore that machines can only work under human
superintendence. In 1799, at a period when wages were high and work
plenty, a furious mob scoured the country round Blackburn, destroyed every
jenny which worked more than twenty spindles, and demolished carding en-
gines, water frames, and every machine worked by horses or by water power,
Mr. Peel, among other individuals, was a severe sufferer on this occasion ;
his works for cotton spinning and calico printing at Altham were destroyed,
the machinery thrown into the river, and his personal safety endangered. A
mill which Arkwright had erected near Chorley, was pulled down in the
presence of a large body of the police and military without any of the autho-
rities interfering for its protection. It was useless for the injured parties to
seek legal redress, for several powerful persons had combined to screen the
rioters from punishment. Their motive appears to have been a dread that
machinery, by superseding manual labour, would throw a heavy burthen on
the poor-rates, and deteriorate the value of land in Lancashire. Experience
has since shewn the fallacy of such an idea and that machinery has increased
the amount of employment more than twenty-fold, and it would not be easy to
calculate how much the demand for building ground has added to the rental
of the landowners.
Blackbiim long suffered from the pernicious effects of these outrages ; the
cotton manufacturers migrated to other districts ; and Blackburn, which bid
fair to be the metropolis of the new trade, ceded its honours and advantages
to Manchester. It is gratifying to add, that few traces of this hostility to
machinery can now be foimd among the operatives of Lancashire ; we have
conversed with many operatives in the factories, both male and female, old
and young; all were equally convinced that machinery ensured them steady
employment and high wages. They reasoned thus : — ^when a large capital is
invested, the proprietor cannot afford to let it remain idle ; and he will pay
high wages, both on account of the great amount of property he entrusts to
those he employs, and because in a very large business wages bear but a small
proportion to the amount of other expenses.
In 1786, Arkwright's patents were set aside, after one of the most inte-
resting trials recorded in commercial history; all the machines which he had
perfected, if not invented, were thrown open to the public ; and the cotton
trade advanced with a rapidity far beyond what has ever been known in any
other branch of industry. Capital and labour rushed to it in torrents; mills
were erected and filled with machinery; workmen were engaged at extravagant
46 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
wages, which it was impossible to sustain, but which it was necessary to offer
in the first instance, to induce them to abandon other employments. " Wages
were high in those days," said an old operative to me, " because two masters
were looking for one man ; they were lowered since, because two men began
to look for one master." We quote his words, because they contain the whole
theory of wages in a single sentence.
The invention of the Mule, which combined the processes of Arkwright
and Hargreaves, as has been already mentioned, gave fresh vigour to the
cotton trade. This machine was invented by Samuel Crompton, a weaver of
respectable character and moderate circimistances, who lived at a cottage called
Hall in the Wood, near Bolton, not far from the extensive cotton works of the
Messrs. Ash worth. Crompton completed a machine in the year 1779, and set
it to work in his garret, content to earn by his manual labour the reward of
his perseverance and ingenuity. The excellence of his yam drew persons
from all quarters to ascertain the means by which it was produced ; they would
not take a refrisal; some even procured ladders, and climbed to the windows
to see him at his work. Among his visitors were master manufacturers, to
whom the poor man, for a trifling reward, explained the principle of his
machine, and shewed the nature of its operations. They knew the value of
the discovery better than he did himself; they made immense fortunes by its
immediate and extensive adoption; he continued his humble course, and
never secured his invention by patent. *
About the year 1802, Mr. Kennedy, a gentleman of Manchester equally
distinguished by intelligence, philanthropy, and love of justice, in conjunction
with Mr. Lee, commenced raising a subscription for Crompton, which produced
about 600/., and enabled him to enlarge his little establishment for spinning
and weaving, at Bolton. In 1812, he made a circuit through the cotton
districts, and collected evidence to prove that the number of spindles worked
on his principle amounted to four or five millions — a number which has since
been doubled. He submitted the result to his kind friends, Messrs. Lee and
Kennedy; by their advice a memorial to Parliament was prepared, which was
signed by the principal manufacturers of the kingdom. The miserable sum of
five thousand pounds was granted to a man who had added millions to the
wealth of the empire ! With this sum Crompton established his sons in the
bleaching business; but a series of misfortunes blighted his hopes, the
establishment failed, his sons dispersed, leaving him with his daughter reduced
to poverty. Messrs. Hicks and Rothwell, of Bolton, the indefatigable Mr.
Kennedy, and some others, raised a second subscription, and purchased for
Crompton a life annuity producing 63/. per annum. He only enjoyed it two
years: he died January 26, 1827, leaving his daughter in circumstances of
great distress.
Far different was the fate of Arkwright. He was the first to organize a
factory on a complete system, and he was long regarded as the most skilful
rv K.^
LANCASHIRE.
47
manager of such an extensive concern. The mill at Cromford became his
own when his partnership with the Messrs. Stnitt terminated; but he had
besides large shai-es in extensive mills in Derbyshire, Lancashire, and Scotland.
He received knighthood from George III. ; he accumulated one of the largest
fortunes ever acquired by an individual in England ; and what probably grati-
fied him still more, he compelled the Lancashire spinners to confess his
superiority, and submit to his dictation. For several years he fixed the price
of cotton twist, no one yentuxing to vary from his prices.
Among the more recent improvements in spinning machinery, the bobbin
and fly frame is one of the most interesting, if not
one of the most important. When first introduced,
the construction of these frames was very complicated,
and required the employment of three or four conical
cylinders to produce the several variable motions which
have been previously described. The construction has
been much simplified, chiefly by the mechanical inge-
nuity of Mr. Henry Houldsworth, who introduced a
very simple system of adjustments for the relative speed
of the bobbin and the fly. He shewed that motion
could be communicated, as in the annexed engraving,
by simple rotatory means; and obtained a patent for
his admirable invention in January 1826. Since that
time many additional improvements have been made
in the construction of the machinery; and to the man
of science it afibrds the most perfect example of an
equating principle, thoroughly accomplished, which is
to be found in the whole range of the mechanical arts.
Spinning machinery was at first set in motion by
horses or by water-power. We have even heard of an
apparatus which was turned by a donky. Water-power
was however the principal means employed, and it is
still used to a considerable extent. Its disadvantages,
however, are obvious : the mill must be built where there
is an available waterfall, without reference to any other
circumstances of convenience; the number of such falls is limited, and the
supply in Lancashire must soon have been exhausted ; streams are exposed to
droughts and floods — opposite evils, but equally injurious to regular work.
Improvements in agriculture also are destructive to mill property; they
deprive the soil of its sponginess, and prevent it from retaining the water,
thus increasing the alternation of drought and flood. Hence the millowners
;who use water-power in the neighbourhood of Bolton have been obliged to
unite in constructing immense reservoirs, to receive the superabundance of one
season and supply the deficiency of another. The application of the steam-
48 KXOLAXD IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
engine to Rpinning machinery gave the manufacturers inexhaustible power and
uniform motion. From the moment of its adoption the apparatus for manu-
facturing cotton became susceptible of almost any extension. Mills could now
be erected wherever fiiel was abundant; and coal overthrew the supremacy of
water. The first steam-engine erected in Manchester was put up by Messrs.
Arkwright and Simpson, for their mill on Shude-hill, in 1783; but it was an
atmospheric engine, and not so successful as to encourage imitation. Fax
different was the effect produced by the steam-engine which Messrs. Boulton
and Watt erected for Mr. Drinkwater, in 1783 ; its work excited universal
admiration, and led to the application of power to many processes which
had hitherto been wrought by hand. Mr. Kelly of Lanark was the first to
apply power to the working of mules, and the success of his experiment gave
a final blow to the sj^stem of domestic labour. The mules, which had hitherto
been chiefly worked in houses, were removed to the null; and thus the factory
system was completed.
Weaving had given the first impulse to spinning, and it soon began to
participate in the advantages of machinery. The first rough outline of the
power-loom was devised by the Rev. Dr. Cartwright, in the year 1787 ; his
ingenuity was rewarded by a parliamentary grant of 10,000/. in 1809. But
the invention was in too rude a state to be worked with profit until it was
perfected by the successive improvements of Messrs. Radcliffe, Ross, Horrocks,
and Marsland. Of these gentlemen, Mr. Radcliffe was the most eminent
inventor ; he devised the dressing firame, without which the power-loom must
have been nearly useless; but his unremitting attention to the perfecting of
his invention seriously injured his circumstances. Horrocks also failed to
reap the reward of his ingenuity, though both appear to have had as strong a
claim on the gratitude of the country as the Rev. Dr. Cartwright.
Some of the results of the series of inventions just described may be briefly
enumerated. The labour of one man, aided by power and machinery, can
produce as much yam as 250 men could spin without such assistance.
Every spindle in a miU — ^and some contain one hundred thousand — can
produce from two to three hanks of yam, each of 840 yards, in a day. Taking
the average at two hanks and a half, all the spindles would, in the course of a
day, spin about 120,000 miles of yam, which would very nearly go five times
round the equatorial circumference of the earth.
Before machinery was employed, there were not more than 30,000 persons
engaged in the cotton manufacture ; the mills now afford employment to more
than eight times that number — a sufficiently striking proof that the progress of
machinery has not diminished the demand for labour. But if we add to those
the persons engaged in all the trades connected with spinning and weaving; in
the carriage, export, and sale of the goods produced, and in the import of the
raw materials, the amoimt of persons dependent on the cotton trade for their
support will be found at the lowest estimate considerably above a million.
LANCASHIRE. 49
There are about 100,000 power-looms and dressing-frames in the three
kingdoms : each of the latter consumes on an average five pounds' weight of
flour weekly, so that the total amount of flour consumed in power-loom
weaving annually is 26,600,0001bs. or 92,860 loads. The agricultural labourers
employed in the production of this flour must be added to the amotuit of the
population dependent for support on the cotton manufacture.
An attentive consideration of all the available documents, and of the
estimates made by various statisticians, shews that the value of cottons annually
manufactured in this country exceeds thirty-six millions sterling; and that
more than a million and a half of persons are directly or indirectly dependent
on this branch of industry for their subsistence.
Having fixed these important facts in the mind, and considered theii*
connexion with the national prosperity, the visitor of Manchester will renew
his inspection of its streets with more anxious feelings than those which
first directed his inquiries. The factories will be the chief objects of his
curiosity; he wiJl be anxious to leai'n their influence on the health, morals,
and well-being of the population. But before entering upon this inquiry,
he has to learn that the factory system is not confined to the spinning and
weaving of cotton : it extends to bleaching and dyeing ; to the manufactures
of wool, flax, and silk ; and is rapidly extending its influence to other branches
of industry.
Bleaching, almost within the memory of man, could only be eflfected during
the summer months, and required several weeks for its completion. It was
common in the last century to send cottons and linens in the spring to be
bleached on the level plains of Holland, and to receive them back late in the
autumn. When cloth was bleached at home, the quantity of ground it occu-
pied for such a length of time was very considerable; its exposed state attracted
the cupidity of thieves, and the means taken for its protection multiplied
capital punishments, led to a dangerous extension of mantraps and spring guns
and placed deadly weapons in the hands of unskilful and imprudent persons.
The horror excited by the execution of a lad for robbing a bleach-ground, on
what is said to have been rather unsufiicient evidence, is not yet forgotten in
Manchester; tradition tells of the general sympathy excited by his condemna-
tion, of the eflforts made to procure a pardon, of its refusal on the ground that
the robbery of bleach-grounds had become a very common crime, of the lad's
agonizing protestations of innocence on the scafibld, and of the multitudinous
groan of the spectators when the law fulfilled its vengeance on its victim.
Another and if possible a darker story is told of the ancient system. The
son of an extensive bleacher went to sea at an early age; he voyaged into
distant lands, and for many weary years had not set his foot on British ground.
His ship at length arrived in Liverpool; he took his place on the coach, which
then quitted Liverpool in the morning and reached Manchester in the evening.
His father's place was a few miles fi:om the latter town, but he was too impatient
H
50 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
to wait for the coming of another morning; he set out on foot, and when he
came near home took a short cut to his paternal house through the bleach-
field. There had been a robbery in the neighbourhood some time before ; the
lad's father was himself on the watch; he saw the supposed robber going
directly to the cloth, levelled his rifle, fired, and his own son fell mortally
wounded. The shot collected a crowd; the dying youth was recognised by his
family — the veil must cover the rest of the picture. We give this story as we
heard it, fi-om the mouth of an old man who said that he remembered the
circumstance ; it certainly is a possible occurrence, for our own memory supplies
us with a parallel catastrophe in another part of the empire.
An accident led the Swedish philosopher Scheie to observe the effect of
chloride, or oxymuriatic acid, in removing the colouring matter of vegetables.
TTie French chemist Berthollet extended Scheie's experiments, and in 1785
published an account of the efficacy of the new acid in bleaching vegetable
fibres. Mr. Thomas Henry of Manchester, who was then rising into fame by
his skill as a practical chemist, his abilities as a lecturer, and his accomplishments
as a general scholar, repeated and extended the experiments of Berthollet.
In 1788 he exhibited to the trade a yard of cotton cloth bleached by chemical
means. The process was first extensively used by the Messrs. Ridgway of
Bolton; it was gradually rendered more complete by the continued application
of Dr. Henry, and by the labours of Watt, the improver of the steam-engine,
and Mr. Tennant of Glasgow.
Bleaching and calico-printing are generally united in the same establish-
ment; as a large supply of water is required for both processes. The bleaching
and printing factories are therefore erected in the vicinity of Manchester rather
than in the town ; but they are most numerous in the valleys between Bury,
Blackburn, and Clitheroe.
When cotton cloth is brought to the bleachers, it is looked over very care-
fully and picked, it is then measui*ed, and taken to be rolled evenly on a
cylinder. The rolling of the cloth, both for bleaching and printing, requires
great accuracy to prevent any crease; for this purpose it passes over a jointed
cylinder having an eccentric motion, which smooths out the cloth by the lateral
movement of the parts. The first process is singeing : the cloth passes rapidly
over a red-hot copper cylinder, which bums off loose " fly," broken threads,
and any other inequalities on its surface, without injuring the texture of the
cloth. During this operation a very pungent smell is given out fi:om the
burning particles of cotton, but it produces no ill effect on the workmen,
because they are chiefly engaged at the fi-ont of the furnace where the smell is
least sensibly observed, and because the process is usually conducted in an open
shed, through which there is a constant current of fi-esh air.
After having been singed, the cloth is thrown loose into water, and after
some time is taken to be more efiectuaUy washed by the dash-wheel.
This is a very large hollow wheel, usually divided into four compartments.
LANCASHIRE. 51
in each of which is a bundle of cloth. It is supplied with a jet of the purest
sprii^ water that can be obtained, through a circular aperture in the side,
and the wheel
in order to re-
ceive this water
revolves close
to the end of a
flattened pipe.
The flow of the
water can be
regulated with
the greatest pre- '
cision, and the
ease with which
it is turned off
and on, is cal-
culated toexcitc
the attention of
a ^■isitor. The
cloth being
thrown backwards and forwards by the rapid revolutiona of the wheel.
The washing does not remove all the gluten and oil which the cloth received
when it was subjected to the dressing process by the weaver; for this purpose
it must be boiled in Hmc. The boiler has a false bottom perforated with holes,
over which the cloth is laid in alternate layers with cream of lime. A stream
of boiling water jets from a pipe in the upper part of the boiler over the layers
and sinks through them into the part below the lidse bottom; here, as it is again
heated to the boUing point, it is forced up through a pipe in the middle of the
boiler, and again spouted over the cloth. This process is usually continued for
eight hours, when the paste-dressing, grease, etc. being effectually removed,
it is once more washed in the dash-wheel.
In the next process the cloth is steeped in a weak solution of sidphuric
acid, which forms a sulphate of lime with the lime of the former operation.
After this it goes back to the dash-wheel. It is next boiled in a weak solution
of carbonate of soda, to remove any oil or grease left by the lime, and again
washed by the dash-wheel.
The cloth is now ready to be subjected to the action of the bl caching-fluid,
that is, chloride of lime dissolved in water. About a gallon and a half of this
liquid is allowed for every pound weight of cloth, and about one pound of
bleaching powder for two pounds of cloth. In this mixture the goods are
steeped for about six hours; when they are taken out they appear sufficiently
bleached to an unpractised eye, especially after they receive another washing
in the dash-wheel. But the experienced eye soon discovers that the colouring
matter of the fibre is not yet completely removed.
52 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
Again the cloth is steeped in a weak sohition of suljyhuric acid, the mixture
having one gallon of acid for every twenty-five gallons of water. The chlorine
disengaged during this operation would render the process unwholesome with-
out care and vigilance, but it is conducted with such caution that all danger
is averted. In this process the oxide of iron which may have been deposited
on the cloth is removed, and the lime disengaged from the chlorine forms
sulphate of lime with the acid. Sulphate of lime being in fact soft alabaster
is capable of being applied to ornamental purposes; we have seen some pretty
toys at Mr. Thompson's great works at Primrose, near Clitheroe, made from
the sulphate which had been deposited on the sides of the vats.
After having been washed, the cloth is again boiled in a solution of carbonate
of soda, then washed and passed through a weaker bleaching fluid than w^as
first used; washed again, and a third time passed through the solution of
sulphuric acid. TTie bleaching process is now complete, and the cloth receives
its last washing previous to its being dried.
The first steeping in sulphuric acid, and the first boiling in the ley made
of carbonate of soda, in the order of our enumeration, are not invariably
employed ; they are, however, rarely neglected by those bleachers who prepare
cotton for their own printing.
After the cloth is washed, a great pai't of the water is squeezed out by
passing it between two rollers; in this damp state, it is straightened and
mangled. If the cloth is designed for sale without being printed, it is
smoothed and stiflfened by being passed through weak starch, made of wheaten
flour, to which some add a little porcelain clay and calcined sulphate of lime.
These substances render the cloth stiffer and apparently stronger than it really
is ; they also improve the gloss which is imparted to it in the process of calen-
dering. The cloth is then passed through the diying machine, which consists
of several copper cylinders heated by steam.
The calender (a corruption of cylinder) consists of several cylindrical
rollers which play against each other. The cloth slightly damped, passing
between these is very tightly pressed, and its surface becomes smooth and
glossy. It is sometimes made to assume a wiry appearance, by passing two
pieces together through the roller, so that the warp threads of one should be
impressed upon the other. After being calendered, the cloths are folded in
pieces; each of which receives a distinctive mark; they are then compressed in
Bramah's patent press, packed and sent to the merchant.
The cost of bleaching is about one halfpenny per yard, and the time
occupied in the process is from one to two days; but if any object were to be
gained by greater speed, the process might easily be accelerated.
Bleach-works require engines of considerable power : those who undertake
their management must combine chemical with mechanical skill, for every
process is effected either by chemical agents or by machinery; human
hands are employed only to convey the cloth from one series of operations to
1.ANCASHIRK. 53
another. Very large capitiils are iiivested in bleaching establishments, and
considerable sums are annually spent in chemical experiments. The mere
arrangement of
the vats, boilers
and machines,
requires extra-
ordinary care ;
and the strict-
est method and
order must he
preserved in
the entire esta-
blishment. The
managers arc
always men of
science, many
of them taking
rank with the
first chemists of
the day: when
printing is superadded to bleaching, the range of their acquirements must
be further extended, and in fact they are, taken as a body, among the most
scientific and well informed of any class in England.
The destructive effect of chemical works on the trees and plants in their
neighbourhood, is very generally known; there is an entire grove near Bolton,
in which every tree has been killed by the effluvite of a chemical manufactory
in the neighbourhood. But on the other hand, we never saw a more thriving
collection of water-planta than that which exists in one of the reservoirs of
Mayfield, the water-lilies are paiticularly fine.
There is no question connected with the manufactures of Manchester, on
which the public has evinced a deeper interest, and received more inconsistent
information, than that of juvenile labour in the mills and the bleaching
establishments. Several mill-owners had made very ample provision for
the education of the young persons in their employment, long before they
were compelled to do so by law. Many of these schools are not less worthy
of a visit, than the factories to which they are attached. We cannot avoid
mentioning one, which we accidentally visited. The children sung several
hymns and innocent songs, with great taste and feeling; among others,
Moore's little melody, " Those Evening Bells," was executed with perfect
harmony, and with a manifest perception of its pathos, quite wonderful in such
young choristers. We examined the children in reading, writing, mental
arithmetic, geography, and Scripture histoiy; the answering for surpassed all
that we could have anticipated, it would have been higldy creditable to
children of the same age in the best academy in England.
54 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
There is no part of England in which better inBtruction is afforded to the
children of the lower ranks than Manchester and the surrounding districts.
The Lancasteiian schools of Manchester are admirably conducted, and the
Sunday schools are very numerous, and managed with great care. But the
institutions most worthy of a stranger's visit are the Blind Asyliun and School
for the Deaf and Dumb,
" ' which are united in one
building, on the Shelford
road, in the immediate
vicinity of the Botanical
and Horticultural Gardens.
The building is in the
Tudor style of architec-
ture, and produces a very
happy effect by its nume-
rous octagonal towers and
chimneys. The centre of
the structure is a church,
designed for the use of the
two institutions: the wing next Manchester is devoted to the Blind Asylum;
the other wing is laid out as a school for the deaf and dumb.
The Bhnd Asylum originated in the munificence of Mr. Thomas Henshaw,
an eminent hat-manufact»irer in Oldham, who at his death, in 1810, bequeathed
20,000/. to endow a Blue-Coat School in Oldham, and the like sum for a
Bhnd Asylum at Manchester. By a singular clause in the will, it was pro-
vided " that the said money should not be applied in the purchase of lands,
or the erection of buildings, it being his expectation that other persons would
at their expense purchase lands and buildings for these purposes."
Eighteen years elapsed before the bequest was made available in Oldham,
hut five and twenty years passed before means were collected for erecting the
Blind Asylum in Manchester. The subject, however, was zealously taken up
in 183.5; the sum of 9000/, was very speedily collected, ground was purchased,
and a building commenced in connexion with the committee for the Deaf and
Dumb School, who had about the same time collected 10,000/. for the erection
of suitable accommodations for their own institution.
The Blind Asylum was opened in 1839, and its subsequent progress
has been most satisfactory. The children are taught to read from the works
printed in raised Roman characters under the direction of Mr, Alston of
Glasgow, whose exertions for the education of the blind have been justly
celebrated throughout Europe and America. The boys are employed in
the manufacture of wicker-work, such as baskets, cradles, cages, etc.; the
girls are engaged in needlework, knitting, and netting. Both are instructed
in music, and every Sunday the full cathedral service of the Church of England
r
LANCASHIRE. 55
is chanted or sung by a choir composed entirely of blind persons. Until a
very recent period the blind were taught music entirely by the ear, but Jlr.
Alston has recently introduced a system of printing music with raised characters
which has enabled them to acquire a very competent knowledge of notation.
Though not so large as the Blind Asylum of Liverpool — the first which was
established in Great Britain — Henshaw's Institution is equally well managed,
and has already produced the most beneficial results.
The School for the Deaf and Dumb was established in the year 1825, and
was conducted in an inconvenient building in Stanley-street, Salford, until the
present edifice was erected. The course of instruction extends over five years,
and is justly celebrated for its practical utility and efficiency.
Cbetbam College or Hospital is a chartered institution founded by Humphrey
Chctham, who acquired a large fortune in trade during the early part of the
seventeenth century, and was one of the first " merchant princes" of Lancashire.
A royal charter gave effect to the stipulations of his will in 1665; a body
corporate of twenty-four feofiees was appointed, with powers to supply the
vacancies in their number as they occurred, and to them the entire management
of the funds bequeathed by the benevolent founder was entrusted. Eighty
boys are now received into the school in the following proportions: — from
Manchester 28, from Salford 12, from Droylsden 6, from Crumpsall 4, from
Bolton 20, and from Turton 10. They are educated, clothed, and lodged
gratuitously. Their dress is singularly unbecoming, as indeed are the dresses
of most similar institutions in England; it consists of a blue frock, cap, and
stockings, with a yellow under-coat or vest. At a proper age the boys are put
apprentice; four pounds aie given with them as a fee, and they receive each
two suits of clothes as aii outfit.
The college is a curious and very ancient building. It was at first occupied
by the clergy of the Collegiate Church, and afterwards became one of the
baronial halls of the Earl of Derby: it was given to the feoflfecs of Chetham's
charity by the Parliamentary Sequestrators, but the transfer was not finally
completed until after the Restoration.
A very excellent library, containing about 25,000 volumes, is attached to
56 EKGLAND IN THE XIKETEEXTII CESTLKV :
the institutiou; several of the works are rare and valuable, and there are also
some curious manuscripts. The regulations under wltich readers are admitted
to the use of the library are liberal and ju<liciou3.
llie Free Grammar School of Manchester was founded in the early part
of the sixteenth century, and is so richly endowed that its funds are adequate
to the education of all the children in Manchester. It is however so conducted
as to prepare boys for some of the learned professions rather than the pursuits
of commercial life, and hence its utility to a trading and manufacturing
community is much restricted. Several exhibitions are in the gift of the
Warden and High Master t there are also fifteen exhibitions for pupils of this
school founded at Brazennose College Oxford, together with a portion of certain
scholarships in Brazennose and Magdalen Colleges Oxford, and St. John's
College Cambridge.
The ecclesiastical government of Manchester is vested in the wardens
and four fellows of the Collegiate
Church, but the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners have recommended
that Lancashire shall be formed
into a Bishopric, and the Collegiate
Church elevated to the rank of a
Cathedral. The building is not
unworthy of such dignity; it is a
venerable Gothic pile, erected in a
commanding situation, so that its
architectural merits arc not lost, as
is the case with too many of our
ecclesiastical edifices. Only a por-
tion of the capacious interior is
devoted to the purposes of public
worship. The rest is divided into
chapels, filled with monumental
effigies and mural tablets, which,
together with the inscriptions on
the windows of stained glass, would fiimish materials for an interesting family
history of this part of Lancashire. In the older tombs are laid the remains of
barons bold and gallant knights, who would have looked upon trade and
commerce as the greatest of all degradations; beside them repose those who
regarded honourable industry as more than an equivalent for patents of
nobility — the architects of their own fortunes — the founders of their own
famUiea. But this church affords us less gloomy associations; it is the most
popular church in the county for the solemnization of marriage; and indeed
so numerous are the parties coming to be united at the expiration of Lent,
that weddings arc performed by wholesale.
LANrASIIIRE. 57
The Collegiate Church of Manchester ranks among the first of those
ecclesiastical edifices which were erected when the florid style of our Pointed
architecture was in full development. Its date and style belong to the
same class of religious structures as Bath Abbey Church, King's College
Chapel, Cambridge, and
others remarkable for airy
and slender supports and
ornamental profusion, while
it would puzzle the most
fastidious to point out a
disproportion in the one
case, or indicate where a
single attribute in the
other could be omitted
with advantage. The " dim
religious light," which
seemed so carefully pre-
served in the edifices of
the preceding ages, even
in those of the early Saxon
times, is here exchanged
for "day's garish eye"
without stint. The deli-
cacy of the ornaments, the
slendcmess of the columns,
and the lightness of the
groins and arches, which
excite wonder, as in King's
College, at the enormous
weights they seem to sus-
pend in the air, give this
style a character of grace and a delicacy quite feminine, contrasted with the
Herculean masses and solid arches of our earlier ecclesiastical structures.
The Collegiate Church of Manchester, then, belonging to this period of
our architectural history, may compete with any of its class under its own
peculiar plan. It is disadvantageously situated, amidst the smoke of countless
manufacturing volcanoes, in an atmosphere continually clouded, and built of a
red sofl stone, in its qualities of colour and duration unworthy of so beautiful
a building. The sharpness of the angles, externally, is corroded by time
and miserably blackened, so that the aspect on the outside may not at first sight
strike the unpractised eye with its excellence of proportion and elegance of
design, though to individuals at all acquainted with the different " orders," if
we may so speak, which exist in the religious edifices of England down to the
58 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
date of this church, its merits must be at once apparent. It was begun by
Lord de la Warre in 1421; but it appears that the entire fabric was not
worked out until 1485, and that considerable additions were made in the
sixteenth century. Many alterations and additions are of recent origin.
There are also numerous chapels in this church, all but one of which are
private property. Upon entering, the admirable adjustment and symmetry of the
parts are at once disclosed. From the nave, the impression which the architect
designed to produce is complete, exhibiting great lightness, beauty, and even
playfulness of design and execution. The columns sustain light arches con-
structed with great skill; the spandrels are ornamented with cinquefoil vaultings
containing shields of a dark colour, and the walls over them pierced with small
windows of five lights ; the roof is lofty and highly decorated. From the capitals
of the lower columns slender pillars shoot up, ornamented with trefoils, support-
ing half-lengths of angels holding musical instruments. From the capitals of
these, a third row of columns rises from behind the angel-effigies, and sustains
the roof. The choir is one of the most beautiful we have ever seen. The ceiling
is flat, divided ornamentally into squares and supported by light rafters, which
at the terminations are sustained by angular buttresses rising between the
windows, perforated laterally, and of a very elegant pattern and appear-
ance. At the east end is a broad window, of seven divisions, filled with
painted glass of modem date. The windows on both sides of the choir are
more elaborately executed than those of the nave. The stalls are finely ]
carved, and some of the panel work is wonderfully executed. Most of the
stalls in this rich choir are adorned with those designs so utterly inconsistent
in an edifice dedicated to religious purposes, which have often been made
the subject of remark, and do not yet seem to be satisfactorily explained.
In one is the representation of a fox running away with a goose, and an old
woman sallying after the marauder, with a child dragging at her garments.
This is in the schoolmaster's stall. There is, in addition to the same design,
an old fox sitting with a large rod over his shoulders, teaching two cubs to *
read; opposite to him is another old fox, perhaps designed as the usher. There
is a party of monkeys, one administering extreme unction to a dying man, and
the rest plundering him of his property and eating his provisions. Another
monkey is nursing an infant in swaddling clotht^s. A different stall is decorated
with a bear-baiting; and one represents a boar upon his hind legs, playing the
bagpipes, with four young pigs behind their trough, dancing on their hind legs
to his notes. There is backgammon-playing and music, and a dog bearing
away a fox on his back, which carries in its turn a pole with a dead hare at
the end. Another shews a huntsman at a fire roasting something, and using
his pole as a spit, while four pots are seen on the fire ; three with lids on, and
on the fourth a hare putting a lid over a seething dog.
The renmant of the ancient screen of this church exhibits some fine wood-
carving. A piece of tapestry, curious from its age rather than quality, is
LANCASHIRE. 59
placed over it. The chapter-house windows are mutilated, but the house
itself is in a tolerable state of repair. The painted glass exhibits a number
of portraits.*
The tower of this church, the upper portion of which is very beautiful, is
supposed to have been erected at different periods of time. In the upper part
there is a good deal of rich tracery. The principal entrance formerly led
through this tower into the body of the church. It is much to be lamented
that the modern alterations and additions are not all in harmony with the
date of the original building. In the reign of Elizabeth (1578), a renewed
charter of foundation was given to this church, appointing a warden, four
fellows, two chaplains, four laymen, and four children skilled in music; also
changing the name of the college from that of the Virgin previously, to
Christ's College.
The monuments in the church are for the most part in a good state of
preservation ; and though in some places rather crowded, they are generally so
arranged as to form very impressive groups. The chapel of the Derby family
is that which possesses the greatest share of historic interest: it is said to have
been erected for the purpose of enclosing the remains of one of the barons
bold of the house of Stanley, whose body was refused the honour of
sepulture within the church, because he had not obtained absolution from
ecclesiastical censure previous to his death. St. Mary's Chapel contains
several interesting monuments of the family of the Chethams: and the Trafford
Chapel, in addition to the memorials of the ancient family from which it takes
its name, possesses a very handsome monument to the memory of Datuitsey
Hulme, Esq., erected by the trustees of the Royal Infirmary; he bequeathed
a large sum of money to that institution, in addition to many other benefac-
tions to the poor of the town. The effect of these chapels is at first a little
distracting, but after a visitor has gone through them once or twice, he begins
to perceive their harmony with the entire edifice, and to feel that " the long-
drawn aisles " are appropriate accompaniments to " the fretted vault."
The influence of factory labour on health is a subject which has given rise
to much controversy. It is commonly believed that bleach and print works
are the most unhealthy of any, but so far as accurate information can be
derived from statistical returns, this opinion appears decidedly erroneous.
Having already described the bleaching processes, we shall now give an
account of caHco printing, an art in which England is yet unrivalled. Calico
printing in England may be said to have been created by the rivalry of the
woollen and silk manufacturers. In the year 1700 the silk and woollen
manufacturers obtained an act of parliament prohibiting the introduction of
the beautiful prints of India and the adjacent countries. But instead of
* There is a curious Diary extant, written by a sexton of this church, in which he gives an account
of all burials from 1678 to 1680 ; ** How deepe the Lye, and wht place they cum ffrom, Boothe iu
town and parish** — This worthy*s name was Philip Burnell.
60 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
people returning to their old materials of dress, the taste for chintzes remained
as strong as ever — plain calicoes were imported from India and printed in
England. So rapidly did the business increase, that it attracted the notice
of the administration, and was of course made to contribute to the revenue.
The woollen manufacturers were not daunted; they obtained in 1720 a law
prohibiting the wear of any printed or dyed goods of which cotton formed a
part, with the exceptions of blue calicoes, muslins, and fustians. Ten years
afterwards this statute was so far relaxed as to allow the printing of cloths
with a linen warp and a cotton weft; but it was not until 1774 that the piinting
of cloths manufactured wholly of cotton was legalized in England.
The printing business was at first confined to London and its vicinity; but
it was introduced into Lancashire about the middle of the last century, where
the local advantages of vicinity to the cotton manufacturers, cheapness of fuel,
abundance of water, and a rate of wages more moderate than that of the
metropolis, soon enabled it to triumph over all competition.
The success of calico printing in Lancashire must, in a great degree,
be attributed to the late Sir Robert Peel. It is recorded as a curious
proof of the humble means with which he commenced laying the foundation
of his fortune, that when he began to try experiments, the cloth, instead of
being calendered, was ironed by a female of the family, and that the pattern
was a parsley leaf. From this time the progress of calico printing in Lan-
cashire is identified with the rise of the Peel family; the establishments
which they founded have for the most part passed into other hands, but they
still rank among the largest in the north of England.
The oldest form of calico printing, which is still continued for several kinds
of goods, is block printing. The pattern is carved in relief on an engraved
block of sycamore, to which a handle is attached ; the workman applies the
surface of the block to a woollen cloth, kept saturated with the colour, and
then placing the block on the piece to be printed strikes it with an iron mallet
so as to leave an impress of the figure. There are wire points at the comer
of the block, which enable the printer to apply it with exactness, and to make
difierent blocks " justify," or fall in the same place, when several are required
to produce a single pattern. If there be more colours than one in the pattern,
it is necessary to have a separate block for every colour, and to repeat the
stamping with every block. TTie skill of the workman is shewn in the
accuracy with which the several blocks fall into their proper places on the
pattern. This is a slow and tedious operation ; the printing of a single piece
of calico, twenty-eight yards in length, requires the application of the block
448 times.
A nearer approach to the process of letter-press, or rather stereotype
printing, is sometimes used with great advantage in small patterns. Instead
of cutting the block, the pattern is raised on it by the insertion of bits of
copper, wliich are firmly fixed in it at a uniform height, and form in eficct
LANCASHIRE. 61
a stereotype plate. This invention, which some time since was applied to the
printing of music, and subsequently abandoned, appears, if we may judge
from its application at Mayfield, to be of great value in cotton printing; the
copper is more easUy cleaned than the wood, there is less chance of blotching
the pattern, and a greater facility of making several blocks "justify" with
each other when it is necessary to combine them for the production of a
figure with several colours. When any error was made in this respect with
the ordinary process, it was necessary to destroy the block and cut a new one ;
in the newer process, when an alteration is requisite, the copper points are
easily moved to their proper place, a pincers draws them out, and a hammer
drives them in without delay or difficulty.
The use of the blocks with raised points has led to the invention of a species
of press, also to be seen at Mayfield, which prints several colours at once. The
cloth to be printed unrols only the breadth of a single colour-block at a time ;
as it passes successively under the blocks, which are placed in close contact,
it receives of course a separate impression from each, and is given out from
the press with all the colours of the pattern complete. This invention, it is
believed, is capable of being extended and improved, and we have heard of
attempts made to apply it to letter-press printing.
As delicate patterns could not be easily engraved on wood, copper-plates
were introduced, chiefly we believe in the neighbourhood of London, and
they were applied by means of the ordinary copper-plate press. This was the
most tedious of all the processes employed, and the goods thus produced were
consequently very dear; it is now we believe almost whoUy disused.
Cylinder printing is far the most important improvement made in this art,
bearing nearly the same relation to block and plate printing that the mule
does to the old spinning wheels. It is said to have been invented by a Scotch-
man named Bell, and was first applied to printing in Lancashire about the
year 1785. The patterns are engraved on a polished copper cylinder, round
the whole circumference, and from one end to the other; the diameter of the
cylinder is about three inches, and its length varies according to the breadth
of the cloth to be printed. The cylinder revolves horizontally in a press, the
lower part turning over a trough containing the colouring matter, which it of
course takes up; an elastic knife-blade working against the cylinder, some-
thing like the crank and comb in the carding machine, removes the colour
from the smooth surface of the cylinder, leaving only the portions contained
in the engraved lines of the pattern. The piece of cloth being passed over
and pressed against the upper surface of the cylinder, takes up the pattern,
and then, as fast as printed, it is turned over several cylindrical boxes heated
by steam, which remove from it every particle of moisture.
The most ingenious and at the same time the most simple contrivance, in
this beautifrd and most wondrous piece of mechanism, is the knife-blade,
which is technically called " the doctor." It is said to have obtained its name
62 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
from the following circumstance. When Mr. Hargreaves, a partner in the
fectory of Mosneyneax Preston, where cyHndrical printing was first introduced,
was making some experiments with the process, one of hie workmen who stood
by said, " All this is very well Sir, but how will you remove the superfluous
colour from the surface of the cylinder ?" Mr. Hai^eaves took up a common
knife which waa near, and placing it horizontally against the revolving
cylinder, at once shewed its action in removing the colour, asking the operative
" What do you say to this ?" After a moment's pause of surprise and pleasure,
the man replied, " O Sir, you have doctored it !" — a common phrase for " you
have cured it;" and the contrivance has ever since retained the name of
" doctor."
Cylinders, like blocks, may be engraved with different portions of the same
pattern, and made to justify with each other, and as each cylinder revolves in
a trough of a different colour, the resulting pattern will have as many colours
as there are cylinders. It is not uncommon to sec from three to six cylinders
in one press, each cylinder engraved with a different part of the pattern, and
printing a different colour on the cloth. A man and boy, at such a press, can
do more work than a hundred men, attended by a hundred boys, could by
block printing.
The preparation of patterns is an increasing branch of industry, but does
not yet hold so high a rank as might be expected in England. It is not easy
to estimate the cost of a design; some are purchased for a few shillings, and
LANCASHIRE. 63
others bring as high a price aa twenty pounds. Mr. Thomson of Chtheroe,
has stated in his evidence before the House of Commons, that he would have
Boi^ht designs for furniture cotton from some of the most eminent artists in
Europe, at an unlimited price, if he could have obtained such an extension of
copyright as would secure him adequate remuneration.
Simple and inartificial designs are generally the greatest favourites with
the pubhc: Lane's net, of which an engraving is given, was one of the most
successful ever produced. It will be seen that it is nothing more than a simple
arrangement of right lines. But it also deserves to be remarked, that every
original pattern which is successful, becomes the source of a new style, and
suggests variations of the original combination, which are in fact new patterns.
We have given some specimens of the variety of patterns derived from Lane's
original net, but they form only a small proportion of the entire amount.
There is a constant demand for novelty and variety of patterns, not only in
the home market, but in every country to which English calicoes are exported;
and we have been assured by a gentleman most extensively engaged in the
trade, that a printer ia seldom able to sell the same design a second time to the
same individual Neither purity of taste nor excellence of design can com-
64 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY I
pete with the charm of novelty, and this compels extensive printers to produce
fresh varieties every week, and frequently within the week. It has been
calcidated that out of five hundred designs, one hundred will be decidedly
successfiil, fifty moderately so, and the rest nearly complete failures. There
is, however, a greater permanence in the oriental taste, and the same patterns
are exported year after year to Asiatic countries.
A curious anecdote will shew the great importance of a new and successful
pattern. Messrs. Simpson and Co. of Fox-hill Bank, had to print a quantity
of cloth in parallel stripes ; by some accident a portion of the cloth was creased,
and the stripes being thrown angularly on each other, produced a new effect,
which received the name of the Diorama pattern. Such a favourite was this
novelty, that the unprecedented number of 25,000 pieces was sold in one day.
Novelty of effect, however, was its only recommendation, and it is now little
valued.
There are two classes of production in calico printing which diflFer con-
siderably in their application and generally in their design, though some styles
are common to both ; these are *^ garment printing" and " furniture printing."
It is difficult to draw a precise line between these two branches; for some
patterns are applied both to garments and furniture in Great Britain, and some
patterns which are exclusively applied to furniture at home, are exported for
dresses to foreign markets. Some of the richly flowered and gaudy patterns
for instance meet with a ready sale on the coast of Africa. In general it
may be stated that the patterns for furniture are more elaborate and expensive
than those for di*ess. We have seen some which, for the mere drawing and
engraving, cost from fifly to a hundred pounds. A still greater expense is
incurred in what is called the "making-out" of the pattern; that*is reducing
it to such a scale, and making such a distribution of its parts, as will make the
several portions "justify" or harmonise with each other when engraved on
separate blocks or cylinders. Patterns have been exhibited which had to be
drawn over again five or six times, because the least imperfection in fiimiture
designs is at once detected even by an unpractised eye.
The pfitterns were originally engraved on the copper cylinder by the hand ;
they are now transferred to it by mechanical pressure from a small steel
cylinder, similar in principle to the invention which Mr. Perkins devised for
multiplying the plates of bank-notes. It is generally difficult to determine the
claims of a disputed invention ; it is, however, certain that Mr. Joseph Lockitt
of Manchester, practised this process in 1808, before Mr. Perkins had come
from America to settle in London, and he brought it, almost unaided, to the
very high degree of perfection which it has now attained. The pattern having
been drawn so as to fit the circumference of the copper, is engraved on a
cylinder of softened steel about four inches in length and one in diameter.
The steel is then tempered and pressed against a second cylinder of softened
steel, to which of course the lines of the pattern are transferred in relief. This
LANCASHIRE. 65
again is tempered or hardened^ after which it is applied to the copper cylinder,
on which it impresses even the most delicate lines of the pattern as finely and
accurately as if they had been cut by the graver.
Another process is frequently employed, which may be called "etching," —
the copper cylinder is covered with a thin coat of varnish, such as is used in
the ordinary etching, and on this the pattern is drawn with a diamond-pointed
tracer. The cylinder is then immersed in aquafortis, and of course the parts
from which the varnish has been removed by the tracer, are corroded or
engraved. The most wondrous part remains to be told; the diamond tracer
is generally applied by a process similar to the eccentric chuck of a lathe, and
thus the entire surface of the cylinder is covered with patterns, or ground
works of patterns, without any exercise of human skill or ingenuity.
The eccentric designs, as the patterns thus produced are called, from the
eccentric chuck employed in the process, admit of incalcidable varieties of
form, and some of them are exquisitely beautifrd. Nothing in machinery is
more calculated to impress a visitor with feelings of wonder and admiration
than a visit to the manufactory of the Messrs. Lockett; the patterns produced
by the eccentrics appear to rival the finished labours of an accomplished
artist, while the apparent simplicity of the means is so disproportionate to
the complicated results produced, that a stranger is almost tempted to doubt
the evidence of his senses.
When the cylinders are thus covered with groimd-work, an additional
pattern may be engraved upon them either by the hand or the steel cylinder.
In consequence of these obvious advantages, cylinders eccentrically engraved
are largely exported from Manchester both to the Continent and North
America. The Prussians and Germans send their own designs to be engraved
on the cylinders, having previously selected the ground-work; but very
frequently the rollers are exported, simply with the eccentric ground, and the
foreign manufacturer superadds the pattern according to his fancy.
The principle of the electrotype, discovered by Mr. Spencer of liverpool,
has been recently applied with great success by the Messrs. Lockett to the
engraving of copper cylinders. As this process will enable artists to transfer
very elaborate designs to the copper at a trifling expense, it will probably
lead to a great improvement in the art of design, which has retrograded rather
than advanced in England. When the printing trade was confined to the
vicinity of London, pattern-drawing flourished. Mr. Thomson of Clitheroe
says, " The designs of several distinguished artists are stiU remembered with
admiration; and Raymond, Kilbum, Wagner, and Edwards, are regarded as
the old masters of the English school of design in calico printing. I have the
good fortune to possess a volume of drawings of this period, in which pattern
drawing is elevated to the dignity of a fine art. The art of printing since that
period has made gigantic strides, and is now one of the most beautifrd and
refined of the chemical arts. The art of designing has at the same time
K
66 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
retrograded." We must, however, add that within the last two years attention
has been paid to the preparation of patterns, particularly those for mousselines-
de-laine and Chine silks; and no doubt English calico printing will soon exhibit
the most happy combination of the fine with the useful arts.
Having described the machinery used in calico printing, we must endea-
vour to give a general notion of the process, and for this purpose we must
warn the reader that the foundation of the whole may be said to be the proper
application of mordants. The nature of these is admirably explained by Dr.
Thomson, in the article on dyeing in the last edition of the ' Encyclopaedia
Britannica.' " The term mordant is applied by dyers to certain substances with
which the cloth to be dyed must be impregnated, otherwise the colouring
matter would not adhere to the cloth but would be removed by washing. Thus
the red colour given to cotton by madder would not be fixed, imless the cloth
were previously steeped in a solution of salt of alumina. It has been ascer-
tained that the cloth has the property of decomposing the salt of alumina, and
of combining with and of retaining a portion of alumina. The red colouring
principle of the madder has an affinity for this alumina and combines with
it. The consequence is, that the alumina being firmly retained by the cloth,
and the colouring matter by the alumina, the dye becomes fast, or cannot be
removed by washing the cloth with water, even by the assistance of soap,
though simple water is sufficient to remove the red colouring matter from the
cloth, imless the alum mordant has been previously applied. The term
mordant (from the Latin word mordere to bite) was applied to these substances
by the French writers on dyeing, from a notion entertained by them that the
action of the mordants was mechanical; that they were of a corrosive or biting
nature, and served merely to open pores in the fibres of the cloth, into which
the colouring matter might insinuate itself. And after the inaccuracy of this
notion was discovered, and the real use of mordants ascertained, the term was
stiU continued as sufficiently appropriate, or rather as a proper name, without
any allusion to its original signification. The term mordant y however, is not
limited to those substances merely which serve like alumina to fix the colours.
It is applied also to certain substances which have the property of altering the
shade of colour, or brightening the colour, as it is called."
Most commonly the printing process is employed for fixing the mordants
on the cloth, which is then dyed in the ordinary way. When the cloth is
washed, those parts only retain the colour which have imbibed the mordant,
and the other parts remain white. It is generally believed that this process
was discovered in India, where it was undoubtedly practised at a very early
period; but from the description given by Pliny,* it is evident that in the
* There exists in Egypt a wondrous method of dyeing. The white cloth is stained in mrious places,
not with dyestuflb, but with substances which have naturally the property of absorbing (6zing) colours.
These applications are not visible on the cloth; but when the pieces are dipped into a hot cauldron »
containing the dye, they are in an instant after drawn out, dyed. The remarkable circumstance is, that
though there be only one dye in the cauldron, yet different colours appear on the cloth, nor can the
colours be afterwards removed. — Natural History, Book zxzv.
}
LANCASHIRE. 67
first century of the Christiaii era calico printing was understood and practised
in Egypt.
The most common mordant is the aluminate^ formed by the mixture of
three parts of acetate of lead (vulgarly called " sugar of lead") with four of
alum. When this is applied by the block or cylinder, it is usually thickened
with starch or gum, according to the nature and style of the cloth. In some
cases the mordants formed from the chloride of tin are mixed with the colour-
ing matter, and both applied to the cloth together; but the colours thus
produced, though originally very beautiful, soon fade when exposed to the
action of light and air.
The mordants, as we have said, are employed to combine with the dyes,
and thus produce a permanent colour; but this effect would not follow if the
entire mordant entered into a perfect chemical combination with the dye : it
is necessary that a portion of the mordant should be held suspended and
undecomposed in the cloth. This is effected by a process called " dunging :"
the cloth tinged with the mordant is passed through a mixture of cow-dung
and water, which has the property of holding the aluminates in suspense.
Such, at least, is the explanation of the process most commonly given by
chemists; but we have not seen any satisfactory reason assigned for the failure
of the various attempts that have been made to produce the same result by a
more direct chemical process.
The use of the dung-bath was probably first suggested to calico printers
by their observing that animal fibres, such as silk and wool, received dyes
more perfectly than vegetable fibres, such as fiax and cotton; they therefore
sought out means to animalize the vegetable fibre, and the success of their
experiments induced them to persevere in the practice. Many have supposed
that it was some peculiarity in this process which rendered the colours of the
Indian chintzes so superior to any produced in Europe; but on inquiry from
persons intimately acquainted with the manufactures of Hindostan, we have
not been able to discover any plausible ground for such a supposition.
It would be impossible within our limits to give even an outline of the
different chemical combinations by which colour is produced; in fact, the
chemistry of dyes is now recognised as a separate branch of science, and has
been the subject of many large and elaborate treatises. We shall only mention
a few processes, which can be described with sufficient generality to render
them interesting to unscientific readers. From what we have said, it is clear
that the use of the mordants is to fix the colours of the pattern. H then the
whole ground be coloured, the cloth must be immersed in the mordant, and
the white must be produced by something which will neutralize or counteract
its efficacy.
This counteraction of the mordants is produced by what are called " dis-
chargers;" that is, by printing the parts designed to be kept white with an acid
which will neutralize or destroy the mordant, and consequently the colour
68 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY I
which the cloth in that place had imbibed. The citric acid is chiefly used for
this purpose; and^ according to circumstances^ it is either applied before the
cloth is dipped in the mordant, so as to prevent its action, or it is applied
afterwards, to counteract its agency. This reverse of the original process of
calico printing is said to have been first introduced in Scotland, but it was not
practised successfully and extensively until it was adopted by the Peels of
Church, about the commencement of the present century.
" Resisters," or " resist pastes," are scarcely of less value than " dis-
chargers" in all the variety of dyes which indigo is employed to produce.
While " Mordants" fix colours and " Diachargers" remove them, " Resisters"
prevent the indigo dye from leaving a trace of its presence. This process is
said to have been discovered by a commercial traveller, who had so little know-
ledge of its value that he sold his secret for five pounds. The process was
first extensively employed by the late Sir Robert Peel, in his works near Bury,
and the beauty of its effects, and the extreme precision of outline in the
patterns produced, at once placed his establishment at the head of all the
factories for calico printing in the country.
No part of the chemistry of calico printing is more interesting than the
process of dyeing Turkey-reds, but it is unfortunately very complicated, and in
many of its parts apparently tentative. On one operation of a series, and one
of the longest and most complicated series that exists in the whole range of
the art, depends the perfect or imperfect success of the entire work. At which
stage of the series this decisive effect is produced, has yet eluded the investi-
gations of science. At one time it was attributed to the effect of climate, and
the air and water of Elberfield were assigned as the cause of the superiority
which Elberfield attained. But Mr. Steiner, the proprietor of the great estab-
lishment at Church, one of the original manufactories of the Peels, produces
the most brilliant dye without any exposure to the sun and air. This dye was
restricted to yarn, until M. Koechlin, of Mulhausen in Alsace, applied it to
cloth in the year 1810, and soon after discovered the means by which patterns
could be printed on this beautiftd ground. The process is simply to print a
pattern on the Turkey red, or any other dyed colour, with a powerful acid, and
then to immerse the cloth in a solution of chloride of lime. Neither of these
agents separately would discharge the colour, but the chloride being liberated
in the parts which have received the acid, performs its usual bleaching func-
tions, and renders the parts so affected purely white.
The various applications of manganese and the chromic dyes have given
to English colours a richness and variety which bid £sdr to establish as great a
superiority in colours as we have hitherto had in yams and cloths. It is a £act
which ought not to be forgotten, that many of the greatest discoveries in
modem chemistry have been derived from experiments for the improvement
of colours, and that the leading calico printers spare neither time, trouble, nor
expense, in their endeavours still further to promote the science. The labora-
LANCASHIRE. 69
tories and scientific libraries attached to most of the printing factories are fully
equal to those of our best public institutions^ and among the chemists they
employ are to be found names that have shed the brightest lustre on the annals
of modem science.
We have given merely a general outline of calico printing; it is a business
which to be well and successftdly carried out, requires a combination of the
highest mechanical attainments, the most extensive chemical knowledge, and
no small acquaintance with the art of design. Some of the print works
employ more than a thousand operatives; they are all conducted with extreme
order, cleanliness, and punctuality; they exhibit at once the greatest triumphs
of mechanical art and chemical science, both kept under the control of human
agency, and working for the advancement of human comfort.
The silk trade is a modem branch of industry in Manchester, but it has
extended itself so rapidly that it is now second only to the cotton manufacture.
The town of Middleton, near Manchester, is indeed principally inhabited by
silk-weavers. As we shall have to describe the silk trade in connexion with
other localities, we shall here only notice a few of those branches which are
peculiar, or nearly so, to the Lancastrian districts.
It is in the weaving, rather than the spinidng or throwing, that the silk
manufacture becomes deeply interesting, and in some of the weaving branches
Manchester is unrivalled. No one who has visited the establishment of
Mr. Lewis Schwabe, can ever forget the extraordinary beauty of the fabrics
wrought in his jacquard looms. The richness and beauty of the patterns
surpass all that the imagination could previously have conceived: the flowers
wrought into the silks and satins appear more like the work of the best
painter than of the weaver. He has also some of the finest specimens yet
produced, of the interweaving of glass thread with textile fabrics. But
nothing in this establishment is more likely to engage the attention of a
scientific visitor, than the application of the Fantagraph to the art of em-
broidery. The embroidery loom is an upright &ame, on the top of which
is a moveable rod attached to one arm of the pantagraph. The material to
be embroidered passes over this rod to a roller beneath. On each side are
carriages having a horizontal motion backwards and forwards, supplied with
a system of clippers, and also of needles having the eye in the middle; these
needles are threaded with the various coloured silks that are to be em-
broidered on the suspended piece. The tenter, sitting at one end, moves the
long arm of the pantagraph to a point marked in a copy of the pattern, and
the other arm of the pantagraph gives a corresponding motion to the rod
from which the piece is suspended; one of the carriages moving forward
drives its needles into the suspended cloth; they are then caught and drawn
through by the clippers in the carriage at the other side; this process is
repeated at every change of the pantagraph, and thus several copies are em-
broidered with mathematical accuracy on the piece at the same time. So
70 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
simple ia this very ingenious contrivance, that the frame may be worked by a
woman and two girls; the woman guiding tte paatagraph to the points marked
on the pattern, and the girls directing the motion of the carriages. The figure
at the side of the machine represents, on an enlaced scale, the apparatus for
passing the needles.
Mr. Schwabe has several jacquard looms at wort, and in these are pro-
duced some varieties of figured satin, such as we have not seen in any other
establishment. Among these, a pattern differing from the ground-work only
by a shade of tint is particularly remarkable ; the effect produced is that of
the finest penciling, and both in beauty of design and accuracy of execution
not unworthy of the first artist.
The manufacture of engines and machinery is necessarily a very important
branch of industry in Manchester, but as the subject must elsewhere engage
our attention we shall not dwell upon it here, iiirthcr than to remark that
this is a business which requires not only mechanical skill but also great
intelligence and science in those by whom it is conducted. Modem trade
and commerce daily increase in their demands on mental acquirements, and
this is particularly the case in Manchester, where a very slight improvement
in manipulation confers an immense advantage, on account of the vast amount
of production over which it spreads, and where for the same reason a slight
error or miscalculation must produce incalculable injury.
The merchants and manufiicturers, aware Uiat their own interests are inti-
mately connected with the general division of intelligence, have not only
aided in securing primary instruction for the young in their schools, but have
encouraged the establishment of several institutions where adults can on very
moderate terms obtain a knowledge of science, and at the same time enjoy the
advantages of literary relaxation. Of these institutions, the Athenieum in
Bond-street holds the first rank. It is a splendid building, erected from the
LANCASHIRE. 71
designs of Mr. Barry, the architect of the new Houaea of Parliament. The
members, who are principally young men, have the use of a well-supplied
news-room, a select library, and the privilege of attending lectures. There are
also classes for instruction
in the modem languages,
and in music. Concerts and
balls are occasionally given,
and conversational meet-
ings held for the purpose
of mutual instruction.
There are Mechanics'
Institutes both in Manches-
ter and Salford: thatofMan-
chester, situated in Cooper-
street, was the first building
erected in England for such
a purpose. It has a fine
library, containing about
6000 volumes, and the
members have the privilege "" -- »
of attending lectures and classes. At both of these institutions there have been
public exhibitions of the wonders of nature and art, contributed for the pur-
pose from the private collections of noblemen and gentlemen in the neigh-
bourhood. In each of these exhibitions there were more than 25,000 articles
of various kinds; they remained open for several months, and were each
visited by more than 120,000 persons, and on no occasion was there a single
instance of wanton mischief or material damage to the articles displayed.
A school of design has been recently opened in one of the rooms of the
Royal Institution, where lectures are delivered on painting and sculpture, and
on the sciences more immediately connected with these arts, such as anatomy,
zoology, botany, etc.; competent masters give instruction in the various
branches of drawing, and preparations arc in progress for establishing a
museum of models, and a library of books and engravings.
The Lyceums, which owe their origin to Manchester, are the cheapest
institutions for adult instruction which have yet been founded. For eight
shillings a year the members hare the use of a news-room, coffee-room, and
library, the privilege of attending classes and lectiures, and of holding friendly
meetings for conversation, music, and other rational recreations.
A Social Hall has been recently erected by some of the followers of
Mr. Robert Owen, but as it ie much used for political meetings and the pro-
pagation of peculiar opinions, it cannot he considered an ordinary educational
institution.
There is no town in England, the inhabitants of which display a greater
72 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
taste for music than Manchester. Several societies and clubs have been
formed for its cultivation, at the head of which is the proprietary body of
the New Concert Hall. This hall is a modem structure with a plain exterior,
but its internal arrangements and ornaments deserve the highest praise.
There are about 600 subscribers, and about half as many candidates for
admission. Persons have frequently to wait for several years before they can
become members, as the number is limited.
The Glee Club, the Madrigal Society, and the Choral Society, are on a
smaller scale than the society of the Concert Hall; but they are very efficiently
conducted, and the first musical composers .in England are honorary members
of the Glee Club. The Choral Society is not an institution for mere amuse-
ment, it is in fact a school of music, and most of the members of its choir are
singers professionally engaged in churches and chapels. Chiefly in conse-
quence of this institution, sacred music at Manchester, in the various places
of worship, has a higher and more scientific character than in most parts of the
kingdom. This musical taste descends to the operative classes ; there are several
associations of the work-people for the enjoyment of vocal and instrumental
music, and in many of the large factories the operatives have been aided by
their employers in forming musical bands, which afford the people means of
innocent enjoyment, and have a very powerful eflPect in preventing dissipation.
The Zoological Gardens, on the New Bury Road, are capable of being
made the means of affording both amusement and instruction. They are
delightfully situated, and the grounds, fifteen acres in extent, have been laid
out with great taste and skill. Unfortunately these gardens axe not sufficiently
open at the times when they could be visited by the operatives, or by persons
engaged in active business, so that, like the Botanic Gardens, their utility
is comparatively circumscribed by narrow lunits.
Although the exertions of the " Foot-path Protection Society" have pre-
served many beautiful rural walks to the people of Manchester, yet it is to
be lamented that there is no public park or green in which the labouring
popidation can enjoy healthy exercise and recreation. Nowhere are these
elements of public health more necessary, because in the poorer districts of
Manchester, such as Ancoats, Angel Meadow, and Little Ireland, the popida-
tion is out of all proportion beyond the means of accommodation, and children
can neither be conveniently kept in the small lodging-room, nor safely per-
mitted to be out of doors. The peasants of Lancashire were anciently cele-
brated for their skill and agility in athletic sports, and they still display the
taste whenever they have an opportunity of exercising it. But there is no
spot expressly set apart where the operatives can enjoy the old healthy sports of
England, which would be so gratefrd after the monotony of the factory, and
an antidote to the injurious efiects produced by crowded lodgings and damp
cellars. These cellars are necessarily chosen by the poor hand-loom weavers,
because a moist atmosphere is required for weaving cotton, but poverty often
LANCASHIRE. 73
compels them to share these miserable abodes with others still more wretched
than themselves. No better proof can be given of the deficiency of lodging
for the destitute poor in Manchester, than the report of that excellent institu-
tion, the Night Asylum: in the first year of its existence it afforded shelter
to 11,006 men, 3877 women, and 2533 children, making a total of 17,406
cases of persons rescued from sleeping on the stones of the street.
There are three public cemeteries connected with Manchester; they are
laid out with great taste, and very carefully watched. The oldest, that of
Rnsholme-road, is particularly worthy of notice; it is open to visitors at
proper hours, and the registration of the burials is so perfect as to afford every
advantage which persons interested in statistical inquiries can desire.
The finest pile of building in Manchester is the noble range which
includes the Royal Infirmary, the Dispensary, and the Lunatic Asylum. It
stands in almost the only
open space to be found
within the town, and has
a large sheet of water in
front which b every day
renewed. Six physicians
and six surgeons, elected
by the ballot of the en-
tire body of trustees, are
attached to this institu-
tion, and there are besides
a resident surgeon and
apothecary. Its annual
income is about 9000/., and the average expenditure amounts to very nearly
the same sum.
It is interesting to go from Piccadilly, where modem Manchester appears
to the best advantage, to one of the few remains of the Old Halls which recal
the memory of its ancient condition. Dr. Aikin enumerates seventeen of
these structures, some of which were as old as the Conquest. Most of them
however have disappeared; but Ordsall Hall, with its ancient moat, ia still
in a state of tolerable preservation; and the still more interesting remains of
Hulme Hall, on the Irwell, are well deserving of a visit from the antiquarian.
Hulme Hall was the seat of the Prestwich family; but Sir Thomas Prest-
wich was so impoverished by fines and sequestrations during the Civil Wars,
that in 1660 he was compelled to sell the mansion, which was purchased by Sir
Edward Mosley. Tradition states that Sir Thomas was induced by his mother
to make large pecuniary sacrifices in the cause of Charles I., by the assurance
that she had an immense treasiue concealed, which would more than repay
his expenditure. It is generally believed that this treasure was hidden in
Hulme Hall, or its immediate vicinity, and superstition added that it was
74 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
protected by unhallowed channs, which could only be dissolved by a spell
kaowu to the Dowager Lady Prestwich alone. Unfortunately for her son she
was suddenly
attacked by
apoplexy, and
struck speech-
less, nor did
she again re-
cover the use
of her tongue.
Fortune tellers
— a race of
impostors that
once flourished
in Manches-
ter — are said
to have often
cheated credulous people in the last century, by holding out hopes of dis-
covering the depository of this treasure, and the means of obtaining it from
the demons under whose guardianship it was supposed to be placed. After
passing through several hands, Hulme Hall was finally sold to the Duke of
Bridgewater; it is &st losing its ancient character, being now in a dilapidated
state, and occupied by a number of poor cottagers.
Ancoats Hall tvas the principal seat of the Mosleys, the lords of the manor of
Manchester. Its chief historic interest arises from its having aiforded shelter
to the young Pretender when he visited the north of England in secret, pre-
vious to his invasion of Scotland in 1745. This visit is not noticed in most
histories, but it was authenticated by persons who recognised him again when
he entered Manchester at the head of the Scottish army. CoUyhurst Hall
and Hough Hall were also seats of the Mosleys.
Birch Hall was the property of the Birch &mily. They took the side of
the Parliament in the civil war, and were the principal agents in securing
Manchester against the Earl of Derby. The patronage of Birch Chapel is
vested in the proprietors of the Hall. This chapel is singularly placed in the
midst of fields not long since remote from any habitations, and has, even since
the alterations and improvements made by the reverend incumbent, little the
appearance of an ecclesiastical edifice.
There were many other halls, of which the situations can now be scarcely
traced; we may mention one, as an anecdote connected with it will serve
to illustrate the vast change in the value of landed property consequent on the
increase of manufactures. In 1644, Chorlton Hall and the adjoining estate
were sold to an apothecary of Manchester for 300/.; the same property at the
cIoK of the last century brought at a sale more than 60,000/. !
K ^fiyr'PTr:i^-F., y ctft: :-; !r,A ivr.
St]
n-
tn
-^ '-c i.;; .
I.ANCA9HT11E. 75
In every road loading out of ilancliester there are signs of the great
improvements derived from applying the profits of the gas-works to widening
streets and making good approaches to the principal marts of business. The
water-works are managed with equal skill and wisdom. From the immense
reservoir at Beswick, a million and a half gallons of water are daily supplied
to the inhabitants of the town through seventy miles of iron pipes. Not far
from the reservoir is Clayton Hall, once the residence of the munificent
Humphrey Chetham ; the moat has been restored, but unfortunately the house
has been modernised, and scarcely retains a trace of its ancient state, except
the old belfry and the windows which light the kitchen.
At no great distance are the new mills erected in the township of Droyls-
den, where very recently there was not a single manufactory. But in the
later stages of its growth, the cotton trade began to increase more rapidly in
the adjoining towns and vill^cs than in Manchester itself, and that metropolis
of the trade is now more important as a central mart and warehousing dep6t
than as an actually manufacturing place.
ITie advantages of coal and water have led to a vast extension of the
spinning, bleaching, weaving, and printing trades in the direction of Ashton-
under-Lyne and Stayley Bridge, from whence these trades have spread into
the adjoining county of Chester, so that Duckinfield, Mottram, Hyde, Stock-
port, etc., may he regarded as dependent on Manchester.
On the road to Ashton we pass near the interesting village of Fairfield,
a Moravian settlement, established in 1783, The Moravians, or United
Brethren, when forced by persecution to take refuge in England, were recog-
76 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTVBY;
nised by the Statute of 1749, as an " ancient Protestant Episcopal Churct."
Few of the present community are descended from the early emigrants; the
settlement is composed principally of English families who have embraced
their belief, and the number is small, because they conscientiously abstain
from making proselytes.
The village consists of two main streets. The centre of the front facing
the Ashton-road is occupied by the chapel ; a plain but neat brick edifice. On
the right is the house occupied by the sisters of the community, who live
under conventual rule, without being bound by monastic vows. They are
principally engaged in preparing a variety of pieces of embroidery and orna-
mental needlework, which are sold for the benefit of the society. The un-
married brethren occupy a corresponding building to the left of the chapel,
and undertake the education of a limited number of boys.
The entire front, which extends from one end of the village to the other,
is laid out as a garden; it is well stocked with fruit trees, on the cultivation
of which extraordinary care is bestowed, and the produce is consequently
abundant. The burial-ground lies beyond the garden: here the males and
females are interred in separate plots, with no monumental epitaphs beyond
the record of their names, ages, and dates of decease, on a small square stone
at the head of each grave. The village is remarkable for cleanliness, order,
and an air of substantial comfort.
There are several large factories at each side of the turnpike-road, and
their numbers increase rapidly as we approach Ashton. A peat-moss close to
them is chiefly used for the supply of fuel. The undertaking has been com-
menced, and is supported by the Earl of Stamford and Warrington, a great
proprietor of the surrounding country.
LANCASHIRE. 77
The aspect of Asliton-under-Lyne is very striking when viewed from a
distance; the town is built on a hill rising rather abruptly from the north
bank of the river Tame. Like Manchester, it has grown very rapidly from
an insignificant country town into a populous and thriving borough; but the
suddenness of its growth has prevented attention being paid to architectural
beauty, or to the regularity and convenience of the streets. Most of the
inhabitants are engaged in the cotton trade, or the branches of industry con-
nected with it. The weaving of ginghams, nankeens, and calicoes, employs
great numbers; the ginghams are chiefly woven by hand, while the jacquard
loom has been applied to the production of figured ginghams with great success.
The prosperity of Ashton must be chiefly attributed to its coal and canals.
A branch of Ae great Lancashire coal-field extends from Ashton-under-Lyne
to Macclesfield, and the seam of workable coal is said to average thirty feet.
Ashton-under-Lyne was a place of great importance even in the Saxon
times. Soon after the Conquest it became the stronghold of a Norman baron,
who, according to tradition, was the scourge of the neighbouring counties.
His marauding expeditions are said to have been pushed to the very gates of
Chester, and it was impossible to retaliate on him, as the passes through the
marshes were known only to his followers. The castle of Ashton was founded
by this "moss-trooper," but was greatly altered in the days of the Plantagencts.
Very little care is bestowed on the preservation of this interesting bmlding.
The donjon keep is tolerably perfect, and so are some of the flanking walls
which protected the court. At some distance from the castle is " the gallows-
field," where, anciently, a gibbet was erected, to shew that the lords of Ashton
had the power of life and death within their domains. This privilege was so
freely exercised by Sir Ralph of Ashton — sometimes confounded with the moss-
trooper already mentioned, but who really lived in the reign of Henry VI. —
that it was commonly said.
Sweet Jesu, for thy mercy sake,
And for thy bitter passion,
Save us from the axe of the Tower,
And from Sir Ralph of Asheton. *
There are two churches in Ashton; the oldest is a venerable structure,
mai'ked by considerable antiquity.f
t The cruelties of Sir Ralph are annually commemorated at Ashton by the singular custom of
** riding the black lad." A straw figure of the tyrant, not unlike the London representation of Guy
Fawkes, is paraded round the town, and then ignominiously destroyed. It appears that his cruelty
was chiefly occasioned by his seal for agricultural improvements : the fields round Ashton were infested
by a mischievous weed called the ** corn-marygold," to ensure its extirpation, Sir Ralph declared that
any person on whose ground the plant should be found growing, should forfeit a fat sheep to the lord
of the soil. Resistance was made to the payment of this exorbitant penalty, and he punished his
opponents with all the severity of feudal law.
f The following epitaph may be seen on a tomb in Ashton churchyard : — *' Here resteth the body
of John Leech of Hurst, buried the 16th day of October 1689, aged 90 years, who by Anne, his wife,
had issue twelve children, and in his lifetime was father to twelve, grandfather to seventy-five, great
grandfather to ninety-two, great great grandfather to two; in all one hundred and eighty-one persons.**
78 ENGLAND IN THE NIXKTKKNTII CFNTI'BY :
The New Town-Hall, rccoiirty erected from deKigns by Messrs. Youn|^
and Lee of Manehester, was publicly opened in January 1842. It is an
elegant stone edifice; but the material of which it is constructed, a coarse grit
stone, is very un&-
vourable to the de-
velopement of the
design. The order of
architecture is Corin-
thian; presenting in
front an attached co-
lonnade in aniU, raised
considerably above
the level of the street
upon a continuous
pedestal, or ttylobate,
and surmounted by
a balustrade-parapet,
the central compart-
ment of which is ■
charged with an in-
cription, and is de-
signed to be crowned with an emblematic figure of Justice. The interior is
approached by an inclosed porch or piazza, formed by the three central aper-
tures of the arcade, composing the lower story of the order; and comprises
a spacious hall, thirty feet square and sixteen feet high, adorned with Ionic
columns and pilasters; attached, are committee rooms and other public oSBces,
and beyond is the grand staircase, leading to a noble public room, eighty-three
feet long, forty feet wide, and nearly thirty feet high.*
Stayley Bridge, in the vicinity of Ashton, is one of the most remarkable
instances of the rapid accumulation of wealth, populations, and buildings,
produced by the cotton manufacture. Some years ago it was a miserable
hamlet, remarkable only for the picturesque views from the Old Bank, a steep
hill which rises boldly above the north bank of the river; and before the
prospect was shut out by building, commanded an extensive view of very
rich scenery. The cottagers, in addition to their agricultural pursuits,
employed themsehes in spinning woollen yarn for the manufacture of
stockings; there was only one dyer in the place, and he possessed the solitary
piece of workmanship which could be said to make any approach to machinery,
which consisted of two wheels turned by mastifis, similar to the dog-wheels
anciently used in kitchens. It is now a flourishing town with municipal insti-
■ ScYeral liimUtj which rormeil; ttood «l a diilance, now forin part of A&hton; the most remark-
able of wliich are Btolon anil Cliarletloii, built at ibe lieginping of the Americaa war, ami called after
the namei at tiiom plaeci in the Uniltd States.
LANCASHIRE. 79
tutions of its own, and extends to some distance on the Cheshire side of the
river. The persons employed in the mills and factories have come at different
times from the agricultural counties and districts; they are in fact colonists,
not connected with Lancashire by birth or relationship, and are therefore very
slightly influenced by local attachments.
The village of Mosley, and the hamlet of Hartshead, have shared in the
general improvement of the district. It is remarkable that in no place was
the introduction of machinery more vehemently opposed than in the localities
which it has subsequently most enriched. When Mr. Hall erected the first
steam-engine for spinning by power, in 1796, he was obliged to convert his
mill into a garrison, and keep the gates locked both by day and night. Time
dissipated these alarms, and now some of the finest specimens of machinery
are found in Stayley Bridge and its neighbourhood.
Along the Mersey most of the flourishing manufactories are on the Cheshire
side, until we come to Warrington, one of the oldest, if not the very oldest
town in Lancashire. It was a station of the Romans, and was named Yerita-
num from two British words, signifying the " town of the ford or ferry,"
because the Mersey was fordable in its neighbourhood at a spot which gives
name to the present village of Latchford. A bridge having been built by the
first Earl of Derby, for the purpose of enabling Henry VII. to pay him a
visit with greater convenience, the eastern part of the town was deserted for
the vicinity of the bridge, and thus the parish church was left, as old Leland
expresses it, " at the tail end of all the town." There is no bridge over the
Mersey between Warrington and Liverpool, nor for many miles up between it
and Manchester ; hence Warrington was looked upon as a place of considerable
importance in the time of the civil wars, and Charles I. originally intended to
have raised his standard there instead of at Nottingham. Ill-founded sus-
picions of the loyalty of Lord Strange, led to the abandonment of this design.
Warrington, however, was garrisoned for the king; and when the walls were
stormed the royalists took post in the church, where they made a resolute
defence. The injuries which this venerable edifice received have destroyed
most of the traces of its great antiquity, for it is of Saxon origin, and existed
at the period of the Conquest. A crypt, which is supposed to have been of
Saxon origin, has been recently discovered under the eastern part of the church,
and the inhabitants of the town have had it cleared out, and restored as nearly
as possible to its ancient state.
The most remarkable monument in the church is that of Sir Thomas
Boteler and his lady. The knight is sheathed in armour, and the dress of the
lady is different from any found on our ancient tombs ; the principal peculiarity
is a cap shaped like a mitre, which appears to have had the ornaments usually
confined to ecclesiastical dignitaries.
The Butlers of Bewsey were lords of Wari-ington, and the rivals of the
Stanleys, in the west of Lancashire. It was as much for the purpose of
80 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
depriving Sir Thomas Butler of the profits of the ferry, as for opening a
convenient access to the King, that the Earl of Derby bought ground ^om
the Norris family to build the bridge over the Mersey. A bitter feud
arose between the families; and the Earl of Derby, or, as he was then. Lord
Stanley, resolved to murder his great opponent. As the castle of Bewsey
was strongly fortified and secured by a wide moat, this was a difficult enter-
prise ; but having bribed one of the knight's chamberlains to place a light in
his master's chamber window. Lord Stanley, accompanied by Sir Piers Legh
and some others, crossed the moat in leather boats, climbed to the window,
forced an entrance, and seized Sir Thomas Butler, or, as he is called in
some versions of the legend. Sir John Butler, in his bed. They then,
with many circumstances of barbarity, hanged hiTn on a tree in his own park.
They would also have murdered his infant son, had not a servant maid carried
off the child in her apron, while a negro servant kept the assassins at bay.*
* A different ▼ersion of tliii legend is given in a spirited ballad, which Mr. Roby has Introduced
into his *' Legends of Lancashire." According to him, the heir of Bewsey was conveyed away by a
page in a basket, and the treacherous porter was deceived by the stratagem described in the following
extract : —
" Now whitlier away, thou Httle page; *
Now whither away so fast?"
** They have slain Sir John,** said the little page,
<< And his head in the wicker cast.**
** And whither goest thou with that grisly head?**
Cried the grim porter again.
** To Warrington Bridge they bid me run,
And set it up amain.** -
** There may it hang,** cried that loathly knave, 1
** And grin till its teeth be dry ; »
While every day with jeer and taunt
Will I mock it till I die.**
The porter open*d the wicket straight,
And the messenger went hb way ;
For he little guess*d of the head that now
In that basket of wicker lay.
" We*ve kiird the bird, but where *s the egg?'*
Then cried these ruffians three.
*' Where is thy child?** The lady mourn*d.
But never a word spoke she.
But swifl, as an arrow, to his bed
The lady in terror sprung,
When, oh ! a sorrowful dame was she.
And her hands she madly wrung.
** The babe is gone! oh ! spare my child,
And strike my heart in twain.**
To those ruthless men the lady knelt,
But her piteous suit was vain.
The ballad then describes the rage of the murderers, and the revived hopes of the mother when the
absence of the babe was discovered. Tiiis leads to the catastrophe; for the ruffians, suspecting that the
porter had been guilty of double treachery, wreak their vengeance on him.
w
r
z'
r.AXCASIIlRE. SI
Though the most ancient part of Warrington was ncnr the church, the
most striking remains of antiquity are in the vicinity of the market-place. On
the west side of it are two fine specimens of the ornamental exterior of ancient
wood architecture ; and
a cottage in the vicinity
has a room in an admi-
rable state of preserva-
tion, which is the most
perfect specimen of En-
glish domestic architec-
ture in the age of the
Tudora to be found in
any of the northern
counties.
Many circumstances
conb-ibute to determine
the geographical distribution of the various branches of the cotton trade.
Calico printing, for instance, is most conveniently conducted in rural districts,
and in the vicinity of milk-farms; because the cloth after receiving the mor-
dants, must be passed through a mixture of cow-dung and water, which, as
we have already said, fixes the mordants in the cloth better than any prepa-
ration yet discovered. Cheapness of ground is an object of great importance
in weaving by machinery, on account of the large extent of the power-loom
sheds. Hand-loom weaving is the branch most independent of localities, and
is therefore the most widely distributed.
Fustian weaving appears to flourish most on the southern and eastern
frontiers of Lancashire, from Warrington round to Oldham. It is woven both
by power and hand ; and there arc some peculiarities in the process which
merit a description. Common fustian is a coarse, thick-twilled cotton, com-
monly called pillow ; but corduroys, velverets, velveteens, and thicksetts,
belong to the same fabric, differing only in the fineness of the material, and
the greater care bestowed on the superior article. In the process of twiUing,
the weft, instead of passing alternately under and over each thread of the
warp, alternates at certain intervals, so as to bring three or more threads of
the warp together, like the strands of a rope, at the determined spots, and
bind them into one cord. The resulting texture is, consequently, thicker than
cloth woven in the ordinary manner; but it is not necessarily much stronger,
because the parts are less perfectly held together.
Ordinary cotton would be obviously too thin for outside clothing except in
tropical climates, and the process of twilling has been therefore introduced,
in order to accumulate a large quantity of material in a given space. Flushing
is another process, originally borrowed from silk-weaving, sometimes applied
to plain, but much more iisually to twilled goods. Its effects are best seen in
M» IN THE MSETF.EXTI
velvets and in corduroys, whicli are in fact coarse stri])cd velvets. Flushings
arc weft threads, wluch pass over certain parts of the warp without being
decussated, and which, therefore, when the piece is woven, form loops on its
surface. The patterns of the flushings may be almost infinitely varied by the
use of extra warp or extra web, and by the introduction of diifcrent colours ;
but, in most cases, they are raised by additional shots of weft. In the weaving
of the plain or tabby-backed velvets and velveteens, it is usual to throw in two
shots of flushing for each shot of ground. Cords or corduroys arc always
twilled fabrics, and velveteens plain.
When the piece is woven, the weft threads intended to form the pile are
spread over the suiface in a scries of loops, which must be cut through with a
kiiifc. This is a very delicate operation, whether performed by hand or by
machine. The cloth is spread upon a table about six feet in length, and held
in a state of tension by two roUei-s with ratchet wheels, one of which gives out
the cloth, and the other folds it up, as the cutting of each six-foot length is
completed. The knife is made of steel, about two feet in length, having a
square handle at one cud, and tapering at the other into a blade as thin as
paper; a guide is fixed at the lower side, which prevents it from turning and
cutting the cloth, and at the same time checks its elasticity. The operative,
holding the knife in the right hand, places the projecting point under the
extreme loop of the weft, and balancing his body on the left foot, hke a dancer
about to execute a difficult pirouette, pushes the knife straight through the
entire length of the table, and repeats the operation until every loop is cut
through; the cut portion is then taken up on the rcceiWng roller, and the
operation is repeated on a similar portion, which is at the same time given out
by the delivering roller. Cords or corduroys are generally stiffened with glue
previously to their being cut.
The machine for
cutting fustians re-
verses the operation
of the hand: in it the
knives arc fixed, and
the cloth is drawn
over them. Its su-
periority consists in
its having a series of knives, which cut all the loops simultaneously, while
an operative can only cut one row at a time. The cloth is drawn up an
inclined plane, on which the series of knives is fixed at a proper angle. The
handle of each knife is inserted into the socket of a circular spring connected
with a transverse bar, which, by means of the levers and arms attached to it,
will throw the machine out of geer when the operation of the knife is impeded
by any obstruction, such as a knot in the cord. Should the knife cut through
the cord, its weight will fall on a transverse bar with similar appurtenances.
LANCASHIRE. 83
and the action of the machine will be immediately stopped. There is also a
third contrivance of the same kind, in the possible case of the knife jumping
up out of the series of loops which it is cutting. From this brief description
it is evident that the great merit of this machine consists in its security
against accidents; there are few machines, indeed, which equal it in the
ingenuity of the contrivances for stopping the work when any thing goes
'WTong.
The loops being cut, the next operation is to raise the pile, and give it
uniformity of appearance: for this purpose it is passed through the brushing or
teazling machine, which consists of a series of wooden rollers, covered over
with tin-plate, the surfece of which has been burred or rendered rough by a
punch. Over each of these rollers there is a block of wood, the under surface
of which is hollowed out into a concavity corresponding with the roller.
These concaves are lined with card-brushes; and being moved by a crank
backwards and forwards in the direction of the axles of the rollers, they brush
and raise the shaggy surface of the Aistian as it passes over the rollers, and by
their continued action render the pile uniform and smooth.
The pile or flushing adds not only to the warmth and beauty of the fabric,
but by its resistance to friction greatly increases its durability. In order to
perfect the smoothness of the pile, the cut surface of the cloth is singed by
being passed rapidly over an iron cylinder kept red-hot. Both processes are
repeated three or four times, until the surface of the cord is quite smooth and
polished.
The bleaching and dyeing of the cloths are not different in principle from
, the processes already described; if anything they are more simple, as there
* are no printed patterns used. After being dyed they are stiffened with glue,
and then rapidly dried by being passed over hollow cylinders kept heated by
steam. Before they are ready for delivery it is necessary that both cotds and
velveteens should be polished: the former are well rubbed with a bar of wood
on which coarse emery has been glued; the latter are finished by being
slightly run over with bees-wax and then polished with a wedge of hard wood.
When smooth fristians ai-e cut before dyeing they are called " moleskins,"
but if cut after being dyed, they are named " beaverteens." There are many
other varieties of this febric, but their description would only be interesting
« to persons engaged in trade. Enough has been said to shew how this peculiar
process of weaving accomplishes the desirable results of increased warmth,
durability, and susceptibility of ornament. Warrington also possesses manu-
factures of hardware goods, and the files made there are celebrated throughout
Europe; they are fabricated of all sizes, from the coarsest rasp to the delicate
tools employed for watches and mathematical instruments.
There is scarcely any provincial place which holds so high a rank in the
literary history of England as Warrington. From its press the first newspaper
ever published in Lancashire was issued; and it was also the first town in the
%
^
t
84 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY I
country fiom which a stage-coach was started. In the niidcQe of the last
century it was not unjustly called the Athens of the north of England. In
1757 an academy was established, which rapidly rose into celebrity under the
direction of Dr. Aikin, Dr. Priestley, Dr. Taylor (author of the " Hebrew
Concordance"), Dr. Enfield, and the Rev. Gilbert Wakefield. Mrs. Barbauld
celebrated its opening in one of her best poems, which Enfield has preserved
in his " Speaker ;" a collection of pieces originally made for the use of the
students in Warrington Aciidemy. The anticipations of the poetess were
unfortunately not realized: some disputes arose between the trustees and
the professors; the establishment was broken up in 1783, and from its fi"ag-
ments a college was formed at York, which has been recently transferred to
Manchester.
The literary tastes created during the flourishing days of the Academy led
to the establishment of a library, which is still excellent; and to an extent of
publication almost unparalleled in the provincial press. Howard's great work
on Prisons was printed at Warrington, under the superintendence of Dr.
Aikin; and from the same press were issued most of Mrs. Barbauld's poems,
the earlier writings of the late Thomas Roscoe, the works of Dr. Ferrier,
Gibson, and many others. The taste thus created is not extinct.
Before taking leave of Warrington, it should be added that the town h;is a
well-conducted grammar school, and a blue-coat school which, from the
number of bequests made to it, appears to be an established favourite with
the inhabitants.
Warrington has the advantages of an agricultural mart, and there is a
greater appearance of comfort and neatness in the habitations of the poor
than we have found in most towns of Lancashire.
Bradley Hall, in the neighbourhood of Warrington, is supposed to occupy
the site of one of the castles of the Haydocks, a powerful family in Lancashire
at the time of the Plantagenets. The moat and the remains of the gateway
still attest its former greatness.
At the distance of three miles north from Warrington all traces of manu-
facturing proximity are lost; we are close to the village of Winwick: this
sequestered spot, which forms almost a rural oasis in the manufacturing
districts, is supposed by Archbishop Usher and other eminent antiquarians
to have been the site of Cair-Guintguic, one of the twenty-eight British cities
which according to Gildas existed at the time of the Roman invasion. Traces
have been discovered which seem to prove that the great Roman road between
Warrington and Wigan was constructed in this direction.
A better authenticated tradition identifies Winwick with the favourite
residence of Oswald, King of Northumbria, and points out the vicinity of its
venerable church as the spot in which he fell fighting against the pagans
of Mercia, a.d. 642. This church, belonging to the richest rectory in the
kingdom, stands on a little hill adjoining the wood and rookery. It is a large
LANCASHIRE. 85
irregular building, built, or more probably repaired, at different ages, but still
having sufficient unity amid the varieties of its styles to shew that it represents
a structure of very remote antiquity. The edifice consists of a tower, nave,
aisles, two private chapels and a chancel. The tower is built in a massive
style of architecture, but is much disfigured by a buttress on one side, which
rises above the castellated parapet. This appears to have been an addition of
a later period than the original structure, and it was probably erected to
remedy some defect in the foundation on that side. Above the parapet rises
an octagonal spire, of light and elegant proportions, surmounted by a vane,
which is a conspicuous object to the surrounding neighbourhood, and very
useful as a land-mark for the boundaries of adjoining properties. The body
of the church is entered by a massive porch, over which there is an inscrip-
tion, so injured by time as to be quite illegible. There is however a Latin
inscription, in Saxon letters, on the cornice of the south wall, which can
be deciphered, though not without some difficulty. It is to the following
effect : —
This place, O Oswald, formerly delighted you much,
you were king of the northumbrians, now in heaven.
You POSSESS A KINGDOM, HAVING FALLEN IN THE FIELD OF MaRCEFELD.
We BESEECH THEE, BLESSED SAINT, TO ReMEMBER US . . .
The rest is very much defaced, but it intimates that this part of the edifice
was rebuilt about the middle of the fourteenth centxuy.
The roof, which is supported by beautifiil frame-work, was erected in 1701,
but the gentlemen who superintended the structure had the good taste to
preserve the character of the older roof, and to introduce several of its
ornaments : the most conspicuous of these is " the eagle and child," the well-
known cognizance of the Stanley family; the valuable patronage of this church
having been granted to Sir John Stanley in the reign of Henry VI., and it has
ever since been enjoyed by his descendants. The nave is separated from the
aisles by five indented arches, supported by clustered columns and fluted
capitals. There is a beautiful organ in the west gallery, which though a
modem gift to the church, has been so judiciously placed as to harmonize with
the antique character of the building. The windows are very inferior in
architectural beauty to the rest of the edifice, and the buttresses between them
are quite dilapidated.
The chapel on the south side belongs to the family of the Leghs. It
contains several monuments : one of which has a male and a female figure of
brass, representing Sir Peter Legh and his lady; and records that the knight,
after the death of the lady, took vows of celibacy, and entered into holy
orders. He survived her nearly thiity years, and died at the beginning of the
sixteenth century.
The chapel of the Geraids contains several curious monuments, the most
8() ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
ancient of which has the following inscription, in church text, on the bottom
of a fiinge of brass which borders the tombstone: —
Here lieth Peers Gerard Esquyer, son and hbire op Trohas Gerard, knyght
OP THE BrTNE, which MARRIED ^MaRGARBT, DAUGHTER TO WiLLIAM StANLEY OP
HOTON, KNYOHTB, AND ONE OP TUB UEIRB8 OP JoHN BrOULCY KNYGHTB, WHICH
DIED THE 19tH OP JuNE 1492, ON WHOSE 80WLE GoD HAVE MERCY. AmEN.
A full-length figure of the knight sheathed in plate armour is recumbent
on the tomb; it is made of brass, and is executed with a greater degree of
artistic skill than most monuments of the fifteenth century.
Winwick Church is very rich in monumental brasses, some of which are
very curious. We were informed that one of these, with an inscription in
Hebrew, had been found about twenty years ago in the churchyard, but we
were unable to discover the subsequent fate of this unique curiosity.
Few parishes in England have so large a number of endowed charities as
Winwick. There are no less than thirty-seven enumerated in the Report of
the Charitable Commissioners. There was some years ago a laudable custom of
remitting the year's rent of their cottages to six poor labouring families, selected
for industry, piety, and general good conduct. A painted board stating this
fact used to be exhibited outside the cottages of the families thus distinguished,
and was regarded justly as an honourable mark of distinction by the inhabitants.
St. Oswald's Well is about half a mile to the north of Winwick church,
and affords the strongest corroboration of the identity of this place with Marce-
feld (battle-field), where Oswald fell twelve centuries ago, defending his
religion and country against the sanguinary pagans of Mercia. Bede says,
that this Well was originally formed by the piety of pilgrims who visited the
spot where the Christian champion fell. Each was anxious to obtain a portion
of the earth which had been consecrated by his blood, until at length a deep
fosse was scraped in the ground, and that this, finally, was deepened into a
well. An examination of the spot renders this legend far from improbable ;
even at the present day the earth and water are supposed to be possessed of
peculiar sanctity, and firom it all the neighboiiring Catholic chapels are supplied
with holy water. The peasantry are said to attribute great sanctity to the old
communion service preserved in Winwick church. The flagons and cups are
of pewter, covered with red paint, but nothing is known of their history.
At Winwick, the Scottish army under Baillie, after the defeat of the
Duke of Hamilton ifear Wigan, made a vain attempt to stop the progress
of Cromwell. After a brief resistance, the Scotch were forced to yield
themselves prisoners, on the single condition of having their lives spared:
they were carried prisoners to Warrington.
From Red HiU to Newton the road presents nothing remarkable, but
Newton itself has been changed by the railway from a decayed borough into a
thriving village.
V '
Ml-.,:,
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Off
Ac-]
tKr(
•nil
SI
C
I.ANCASHIRT!. 87
Some of the most interesting and Btupcndons works connected witli the
Manchester and Liverpool Railway are in the immediate vicinity of Newton.
Wo may particularly notice the Sankey Viaduct, which cai-rics the railway
over a considerable valley, and also over the canal. It is supported by
nine arches of brick and stone, each of fifty feet diameter, and from fifty to
seventy feet in height There is a smaller viaduct over the Newton valley,
under the arches of which the Newton river and the Warrington turnpike-
road pass.
There is nothing remarkable in Newton itself, save some ancient houses
of frame-work, round one of which, dignified by the name of " The Hall,"
there are still some faint traces of the old moat. At the distance of about
three-quarters of a mile to the north there is an ancient barrow, nearly
thirty yards in diameter, and nine in height. It is covered with oaks, the
ago of which must manifestly be counted by centuries, and is supposed by
antiquarians to be the memorial of some great battle between the Saxons and
the native Britons. There are large glass and vitriol works in the neigh-
bourhood, and extensive iron foundries, with several establishments for the
weaving of fustians and corduroys.
There is a good turnpike-road from Newton to Leigh, which passes
through a rich and interesting country, though not much diversified by hill
and dale. The chief landed proprietors are the Legh family, whose seat is at
Lowton.
Leigh Church, in the township of West Leigh, is very similar in its con-
struction to the church of Winwick, but the architecture is inferior. A private
chapel on the north belongs to the Tildesley family, and contains the remains
of Sir Thomas Tildesley, the most distinguished of the royalist leaders at the
battle of Wigan Lane.
m KXCLAND IX THE NIXKTEENTH CEXTrBY :
The town of Leigh enjoys a considciablc share of the cotton trade, and a
portion of the silk. Wc have abeady mentioned that very plausible elaims to
the invention of the spinning-jenny have been made on behalf of Thomas
Highs, a native of this towni. But having already noticed this claim in a
preceding page, it is unnecessary to say more upon the subject in tliis place.
To the north of Leigh is the township of Atherton, containing several
manufacturing establishments, and the thriving village, or rather to^vn of
Chowbent. In the early stages of the cotton -manufacture, the best spinning-
jennies and carding-machines were said to be made at Chowbent.
Approaching Worsley, the rich meadows of Leigh gradually disappear, and
the country offers to view chiefly tracts of pasture land and peat-moss. But
the principal objects of attraction hero are the wonders of art, ratlier than the
beauties of nature.
"Worsley Hall is a modem edifice; but the Old Hall, thoi^h much dilapi-
dated, is still in existence, and it contains some very extraordinary specimens
of ancient carvings in wood, brought from Hulme Hall in Manchester. ITie
date of the original foundation is assigned to the age of the Conquest, when
this demesne belonged to an eminent hero of ancient romance, Elizeus de
Workesley or Worsley, the first Anglo-Norman baron who volunteered to
join in the first crusade; induced, it is said, by personal friendship for Robert
Duke of Normandy, who abandoned his claims on the English crown and his
paternal duchy to join in recovering Palestine. The hero of Worsley was
&med for his numerous combats with Giants, Saracens, Dragons, etc., and is
said to have been slain in an encounter with a venomous serpent at Rhodes,
where he was bxuied.
Wardley Hall, partially occupied as a farm-house, has little to remind a
visitor of its former greatness. It was anciently the seat of a family named
Downes, which became extinct in the seventeenth century. Roger Downes,
the last male representative of the family, is said in tradition to have been one
LAMCASntRB. 89
of the wildest and most licentiouB of the courtiers of Charles II. Once in a
drunken frolic lie declared to his companions that he would murder the first
person he met. Sallying forth from the tavern he met a poor tailor, and ran
him through with his sword. After several adventures of the same kind, he
was killed by a blow of a bill on London Bridge. Hia head was severed from
his body, and the latter thrown into the river ; but the head, carefrilly packed
in straw, was sent to his sister at Wardley House. Superstitioo now took up
the tale: it was declared that the head could not be removed from the Hall;
whenever it was carried away it was sure to return, and the individuals
engaged in its removal were pimished very severely.
St. Helens, originally an inconsiderable village, is now a very thriving
town, and is likely to rise into a place of very considerable importance. Its
prosperity must chiefly be attributed to the great abundance of excellent
coal found in its neighbourhood, and its easy communication with the port
of Liverpool, by railway and canal. In addition to the facilities afforded
by the Manchester and Liverpool railway, there is a railway between the
St Helens coal-field and Buncom-Gap, which affords a direct and cheap
communication with the navigation of the Mersey. These advantages early
pointed out the place ae a favourable locality for the establishment of works
in which great heat, and consequently a laxge consumption of coals, would
be required, such as the smelting and refining of copper ores, the manu&cture
of glass and vitrified pottery-ware, etc. Our artist has here given a distant
view of St. Helena. Formerly, the establishments erected for smelting copper
were on a very large scale; but they have now been for the most part
discontinued, and ^e staple manu^ture of the place is plate glass, which
is carried on at Ravenhead, and is the largest establishment of the kind in
England, affording employment to more than three hundred workmen. The
first company lor the manufacture of British plate glass was incorporated
in m$, and commenced its operations at Bavenhead; on its failure, the
concerns were transferred, in 1798, to a new company, under the management
of which the establishment has thriven beyond all expectation or precedent,
ENGLAND IN THE NIXETEEXTH CENTURY :
s to render the British plate glass superior to that of any other country.
The seals of each company, shewing a portion of their mode of working at
the several periods, are annexed.
The estahlishment at Bavenhead covers about thirty acres of ground, and
is enclosed by a lofty stone wall, and secured by gates. Beyond the wall are
the cottages occupied by the work-people, which arc for the most part neat
and convenient, though not quite equal in comfort and appearance to the
cottages of the operatives in other parts of Lancashire. At the first establish-
ment of this manuiactory, the workmen were brought over firom France, as
LANCASHIRE. 91
they were from Venice when plate-glass works were established at Lambeth
under the patronage of the Duke of Buckingham, in the preceding century.
But now the great majority of the persons employed are Englishmen, and they
have acquired a proficiency in the manufacture, superior to that of either the
French or the Venetian artisans. This superiority arises not from the dex-
terity of the workmen, but from the application of chemical and mechanical
science to the improvement of the several processes. Great jealousy is mani-
fested by the proprietors in keeping secret the details of their processes,
and although admission is granted by the manager on giving in names, yet
questions are answered with caution, and any very minute inquiry is evaded.
This proceeds more from a dread of foreign, than domestic rivalry; we
were informed that emissaries from France and Germany are constantly on
the watch, to obtain an insight into the methods by which the British have
carried the manufacture to such high perfection, and that workmen supposed
to possess secrets were enticed to emigrate by the proffer of very large
rewards. The general principles of the manufacture cannot however be kept
secret, and they are quite sufficient for a popular description.
Glass may be described as the compound of silex and alkali, formed by
the fusing of both substances together; silex is flint or sand, and the principal
alkalies are potash and soda. Great obscurity rests on the history of its
invention, which appears principally to have arisen from authors confounding
together perfect glass, and substances imperfectly vitrified. Although silex,
imder ordinary circumstances, cannot be perfectly melted alone, yet every
one is aware that the stones and bricks of frimaces in which an intense
heat is employed, assume more or less of a vitrified appearance ; and this is
more especially the case where wood is used for fuel. Some knowledge of
the process of vitrification must therefore have been obtained when men
became acquainted with the art of smelting metals, that is, at a period anterior
to all existing records. The next step in the process would be the discovery
of what is called a ** a flux" — ^ihat is, some substance which wiU liquify more
readily than the material primarily designed to be melted, and the action
of which will render it more sensible of the operation of heat. Fluxes are
used in melting all metals difficult of frision, but they are generally separated
again from the metal. In the manufacture of glass, on the contrary^ it is
necessary that the silex should be intimately blended with the alkali, and the
latter therefore is both a flux and an ingredient; lime, or litharge, is added to
increase the fiisibility of the metal, and may therefore be properly regarded
as a flux. In the manufacture of plate glass, manganese and the oxide of
cobalt are used merely to ensure perfect transparency by neutralizing the
slight tint of yellow which would result from the other ingredients. This
is counteracted by the red tinge of the manganese and the delicate blue of
the cobalt.
The efficacy of the alkalies, or rather the necessity of employing alkaline
92 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
substances, in order to effect the liquifaction of silex, is said to hare been
discovered by accident. Pliiiy relates that some mariners being driyen by
stress of weather into the mouth of the river Belus on the Phoenician coast,
where the plant kali grew in abundance, kindled a fire on the shore to dress
their food. The ashes of the plant were by the force of the heat incorporated
with the silicious sand, and the sailors were surprised to discover transparent
stones where their fire had been. It has been objected to the truth of this
anecdote, that specimens of glass have been found in some of the oldest
Egyptian tombs; but this might have arisen firom the active intercourse
between the Tyrians and Egyptians; and besides, it is notorious that the
sands of the Belus were long supposed to be superior to any other for the
purpose of making glass.
Sidon and Alexandria were the most celebrated marts for glass in the age
of the B.oman Empire, but their fame was eclipsed by Venice, in the Middle
Ages, which for several centuries had almost a complete monopoly of the
manu&cture. The Venetian glass was blown, and was therefore of limited
dimensions: the method of casting plates was commenced in France, by
Thevart, towards the close of the seventeenth century, and being patronized
by the government, it soon arrived at great eminence. The founders of the
British Plate Glass Company imported their first workmen firom France, but
they have now surpassed their teachers, for the English mirror plates are pro*
duced larger than the French, and are imiversally confessed to be superior; and
moreover, in consequence of the easier supply of fuel, they could be produced
at a cheaper rate but for the duty, which exceeds 28. 9d. per superficial foot.
In the manufacture of plate glass, the first great consideration is the
preparation of the flux, and in this kind of glass, soda is the alkali preferred.
The soda is obtained firom common salt (muriate of soda), a plentiful supply of
which can always be obtained at St. Helens, firom the salt-works of Cheshire.
The salt is decomposed by being dissolved with the sub-carbonate of potash,
and exposed to heat. The muriate of potash formed during the process is
separated by priority of crystallization, and the requisite alkaline salt is then
obtained by the ordinary process of evaporation. It is then analyzed, to
determine how much real alkali it contains, and consequently how much sand
it will require. According to Mr. Parkes, the following are the propor-
tions of the materials necessary to produce a good plate, which will resist the
action of air, water, and the common mineral acids —
Silieious sand washed and sifted 720 Ibt,
Alkaline salt prepared as aboTe 450
Quick-Lime slacked and sifted 80
Nitre 25
Gullet, or broken plate glass 425
Total 1700 Ibt.
and this mixture will give on the average I200lbs. of good glass.
LANCASHIRE.
The furnace in which the glass ia melted, occupies the centre of a large
building, called the Foundry. The foundry at Bavenhead is the largest
apartment under one roof in Great Britain, being 118 yards in length, by a
little over 50 in breadth. The glass is fiised in earthen pots or crucibles,
which are placed in the central Aimace, and exposed to the most intense
heat They have not only to endure the action of the fire, but also the
solvent power of the glass itself, and of the fluxes which are used for
Uquiiying the silex. In fiict, the best crucibles gradually dissolve and mix
a portion of their earth with the glass which diey contain, and hence it is
necessary not only that they should be composed of materials difficult to fuse,
but also of earths sufficiently pure not to injure the glass should a portion of
them combine with it. The crucibles or pots are commonly made of five
parts of the finest Stourbridge clay and one part of old crucibles 'ground to
powder. These materials are kneaded together by the feet of the workmen,
a process which it has been found impossible to supersede by machinery.
The materials are prepared for the crucibles by a process called " flitting. "
They are calcined together by being exposed to a degree of heat sufficient to
bring them to a consLBtence like paste. All moisture is thus effectually removed ;
for a drop of water in the materials, or a globule of air in the crucibles, would
by its expansion produce an injurious explosion in the iumace. The carbonic
acid in the alkalies and chalk is at the same time expelled, and an amalgama-
tion of the different materials begins to take place, which gives uniformity to
the subsequent process of melting.
The frit is cut into square cakes, and put into the crucibles in successive
portions untiL they are quite filled. This is rather a tedious operation, because
the frit is more bulky than the fused metal^ and no new portion can be added
until the preceding charge is melted down. As the materials melt and fuse
94 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
together, an opaque white scum rises to the surface, which is carefully skimmed
away. This scum is called " glass-gall/' and is useful as a flux to the refiners
of metals. If not removed the glass-gaU would be yolatized, and in its form of
vapour greatly injure the furnace and the crucibles. As the heat continues
the glass-gall disappears, and the glass throws to its surface minute bubbles,
which burst on the top and become beautifully brilliant. The process firom
the cessation of the vapour of the glass-gall to the time when no more bubbles
are thrown up, is called "refining." When it terminates, the metal has become
uniformly liquid, clear, transparent, and colourless; and it is tested by taking
out samples with an iron rod, and allowing them to cooL
When the glass is thoroughly refined, it is transferred in its liquid state
from the pots or crucibles into a vessel or cistern.* This transfer is effected
by means of a copper ladle about a foot in diameter, fixed into an iron
handle seven feet long. As the cistern has been previously heated to a tem-
perature equal to that of the glass, there is obviously a great danger that the
copper would give way under the great heat and weight of the melted glass.
To prevent such an accident, the bottom of the ladle is supported by an iron
bar held by two other workmen. This process is one of the most severe on
the persons employed, both on account of the heat and the fatigue. After the
cistern has been filled it must remain for several hours in the furnace, that the
air bubbles which were formed by pouring the liquid metal from one vessel to
another should have time to rise and disperse. In many of the olden mirrors
it is not unusual to find one or two air flaws, which greatly disfigure the plate,
and render the refiections imperfect. The metal in the cistern is examined by
taking out samples until it is ascertained that all the air-bubbles have been
dispersed, and it is then ready to be removed to the casting-table.
The casting-table in France, and formerly in Ravenhead, was made of
copper, supported by solid masonry. It was supposed that copper would have
less effect in discolouring the hot melted glass than iron; and many persons
still retain this opinion. But copper is found liable to crack under the sudden
accession of heat which arises from pouring over them the molten mass of
liquid fire : the tables were thus rendered useless, after the vast expense which
had been incurred in grinding and polishing them. Having met with several
accidents of this kind, the British Plate Glass Company resolved to make a trial
of cast-iron. It was not easy to obtain an iron plate of the dimensions they
required; but at length they were able to cast one, fifteen feet in length,
nine in breadth, and six inches in thickness. This massive table, including its
frame, weighs fo\irteen tons; and it was necessary to construct a carriage pur-
posely for its conveyance from the iron-foundry to the glass-house. It is sup-'
ported on castors, for the convenience of readily moving it towards the mouths
of the different annealing ovens. These ovens are placed in two rows on each
* The term for this Tessel is vhen small a cuvette, the large a muUion.
LANCASHIRE,
side of the foundry, and are each sixteen feet wide, and forty feel deep.
Their floors are exactly on the level of the casting-table.
Notwithstanding the vast size of the apartment in which these operations
are conducted, the greatest precautions are necessary to prevent any dis-
turhance of the atmosphere from the time that a casting is commenced until
the sur&ce of the glaas is hardened. The opening or shutting of a door, or B
current of air through a window, would produce a disturbance of the atmo-
sphere which would ripple the surface of the plate and impair its value.
Hence it is very rarely that strangers are permitted to view this operation,
and we must therefore be contented to describe it from the accounts furnished
by others.
When by inspection of the samples it is found that the melted glass in the
cistern is in that state which experience has shewn to be most fevourable to
its flowing readily and equably, a signal is given, to ensure the perfect tran-
quillity necessary to the complete success of the operation. The cistern is
then drawn from the furnace and removed to the casting-table, which has
been previously heated with hot ashes and perfectly cleaned. The melted
glass also is carefully skimmed, to remove any impurities which may have
collected on the sur&ce; for the mixture of any foreign surface would infal-
libly spoil the plate. As soon as this is done the cistern is raised by a crane,
so as to be at a small height above the upper end of the castitig-tabte. It ia
then tilted over, and the melted glass pours out like a flood of fire, flowing
and spreading in every direction upon the table between two iron ribs, the
96 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY!
intervals between which determine its breadth, and their height above the
table its thickness. While the glass is still fluid, or nearly so, a heavy copper
roller, turned very true in a lathe, passes over it, resting on the ribs by which
it is confined, and it rolls out the glass into an equable thickness through its
entire length. Should the cistern contain more melted glass than is necessary
to fill the table, the surplus is received in a vessel of water placed at the
extreme end for the purpose; but if the glass falls short of the required
quantity, a moveable rib is shifted up the table, so as to give a square termi-
nation to the plate, and prevent unnecessary waste. Those who have seen
this operation describe it as very splendid and interesting. The flow of the
molten glass over the metallic table appears like a lava flood issuing from a
volcano. The plate, as the copper roller passes over it, exhibits a great
variety of rich hues; and the gradual disappearance of these as the metal
cools is one of the most beautiful optical eflects that can be produced. This
operation requires the aid of about twenty workmen, each of whom has his
particular duty assigned him.
As soon as the plates are sufficiently cooled, they are pushed by main force
from the table into the annealing oven, and spread out one by one in a hori-
zontal position. As each oven is filled, the mouth is closed with an iron
door, and the crevices stopped with clay, until the annealing process is
completed, which it usually is in fourteen or fifteen days. Without the
process of annealing, glass of any kind would be liable to fly with the
smallest change of temperature, and would break with the slightest scratch
or touch, or even without any apparent cause of external injury. In
cast glass the annealing requires more care and time than in blown glass,
and the slightest inattention would infallibly produce ruinous results. The
extreme fragility of unannealed glass is ascribed by some to mechanical, and
by others to electrical causes. The well-known experiments of Rupert's drop
and the Bologna phial seem to prove that it arises from the external portion
being disproportionately contracted when the glass is suddenly cooled; and
hence, when air is by any means admitted into the porous interior, the atoms
near the surface, being placed in a position of mechanical disadvantage, are
unable to resist its force and pressure.
When the plates are thoroughly annealed they are taken out and squared,
carefully inspected, and should any flaws or bubbles appear, the plate is
divided by cutting through the places where they occur. They are cut
with a rough diamond guided by a rule, similar to that used by glaziers;
but as the plate is thicker than ordinary window glass, the diamond
requires to be managed with more skill. After the diamond has cut a line
sufficiently deep to guide the fracture, the rough ends are broken off by the
hand or by a hammer, and any splinters which may adhere to the plate are
removed by pincers. Flaws and inequalities are most common near the
extreme, and therefore in squaring the glass care is taken that the line of
LANCASHIRE. 97
fracture should pass through them^ because imperfections near the edge will
be concealed by the frame.
The smoothness of the table and the perfect surface of the copper cylinder
are not sufficient to ensure a true face to the plates; for this purpose they
must be ground. The machinery constructed for this process at Ravenhead
is the most perfect of its kind in existence, and is worked by a steam-engine.
The operation consists in rubbing one plate horizontally over another, the
grinding substance being placed between them. Common sand was the first
material used, but this was found to wear away too large a portion of the glass,
and also to diminish its lustre, from the admixture of ferruginous particles
with the glass. Powdered flint, thoroughly purified, is now used instead of
sand; and we were informed that this has produced a saving of more than
fifty per cent. The rough action of the powdered flint is subsequently
corrected by grinding the plates with charges of emery. The next process
is similar to the grinding, but termed smoothing; the emery dust increasing
in tenuity until the last charge used is an almost impalpable powder. Polishing
is the completion of the grinding process, and is also worked by a steam-
engine. Great dexterity, watchfulness, and judgment are essential to the
success of the operation. The plates of glass are firmly imbedded in plaster-
of-Paris, and placed under polishers formed by compact wool-padding upon
blocks of wood. These are constantly traversing up and down; and the
machinery, by giving the plate a slow lateral movement, causes it ultimately
to be polished all over. The material used in polishing is cachomary or crocus
martiSy which not only is the best substance that can be employed for the
purpose, but has also the additional merit of enabling the workman to judge
of his progress and success, by the aid he receives from its colour.
The plates are again careftdly inspected before they are transmitted to the
warehouse. They are always divided with a reference to keeping any flaws
or imperfections at the edges of the squares, and also with a view to keeping
the plates as large as possible. This latter purpose is closely connected with
the profits of the business, for the prices of the plates per square inch, rise in
proportion as the plates increase in size, as may be seen by referring to the
Company's list of prices. It is indeed very difficult to obtain a perfect plate
of the largest size. In spite of all the care and caution that may be employed,
there will be flaws and imperfections in the great majority of castings. Air
bubbles will escape the ken of the most practised eye, and they very often
remain undetected until the plate has come into the hands of the polisher.
The broken pieces of glass and uneven ends cannot exactly be called
waste, because, as we have seen, cullet or broken glass always forms an ingre-
dient in the original frit. There is, however, always a waste in the re-melting,
and consequently a necessity for preventing an accumulation of ctillet. Some
years ago an effort was made to turn the refrise and scoriae of glass to account
by pressing them into the shape of bricks. The experiment succeeded to a
o
98 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
considerable extent; but the bricks were found very costly, and the use of
them entailed an additional expense in cement, as they could not be well held
together by common mortar, and the project is now Tirtually abandoned.
The last process connected with the manufacture of plate glass is that
which is usually called " silvering," but which should rather be named
" tinning," since it consists in covering one side of the plate with an amalga-
mation of tin and quicksilver, so as to reflect the rays of hght. This is a
very simple operation ; but great nicety and dexterity arc requisite in the
manipulation. A table of slate or stone is provided: round this table there
ia a groove
or channel
to carry off
the surplus
quicksilver;
and the table
rests on a
pivot, so that
it can, when
necessary, be
changed from
a horizontal
into an inclined plane. This slab or table is first fixed horizontally, A sheet
of tinfoil, rather larger than the plate, is spread and carefully smoothed. As
much quicksilver, in its liquid form, is then spread over the foil as will lie
steadily on its surface without overflowing ; and a linen cloth, the width of
the plate of glass, is spread upon that end of the table. The plate is then
brought to the table, and made to slide steadily on to the foil charged with
quicksilver. Great care is required in this operation, because the plate must
dip in the quicksilver and push the metal before it, in order to remove any
impurities or oxides which may rest on the surface of the quicksilver, and also
to prevent the formation of air bubbles between the amalgam and the plate;
hut at the same time it is necessary to prevent the plate from coming into
immediate contact with the sheet of tinfoil, which would infallibly be torn by
the slightest touch. When the entire plate has been brought into its position,
and has dropped gently on the foil, it is heavily loaded with weights covered
with flannel, to squeeze out the superfluous quicksilver, the escape of which
is further iacilitated by giving the slab a gentle slope, and increasing the
inclination by slow degrees. A day or two afterwards the plate is carefully
lif^d up and turned over; its under side is thus covered over with a very
soft amalgam made by the quicksilver and foil. Several days however elapse
before the amalgam has acquired the proper degree of hardness ; and during
this period globules of quicksilver drop from the lower edge of the plate. So
long as the amalgam is in an imperfect state, portions of it are liable to be
LANCASHIRE. 99
detached from it by any electrical changes in the atmosphere or violent con-
cussions of the air, such as a thunder-storm, a very high wind, or the firing of
artillery. It is impossible to apply an adequate remedy to such an accident,
for patching is immediately detected by the wheat-seam which marks the Hne
of contact between the old and the new amalgam. In most cases, when an
imperfection is detected, the amalgam is removed and the process of silvering
repeated from the very beginning.
Before the Ravenhead Company had perfected the manufacture, the action
of light on plate glass long exposed to the solar rays was very remarkable,
which may be clearly seen in some windows to this day; it acquired a
violet or purple tinge, arising from some chemical used in the mixture. If
portions were taken from the same plate, and some of them exposed for a few
months to the light while others were kept covered, the diflFerence between
them became so great, that persons unacquainted with the circumstances
could hardly be persuaded to believe in their former identity. Different
plates exhibit a great difference in their susceptibility of this action. It may
however be said that blown plates are more readily acted upon than cast
plates; and the French and some other glasses even now in time acquire a
yellow tint, whilst that manufactured by the British Company does not change.
The blowing of plate glass differs from the ordinary glass manufacture
chiefly in the workman blowing it into the shape of a cylinder instead of a
globe. While yet soft, the cylinder is cut open with a shears, and flattened
out. Plates of a larger size than fifty inches by thirty, cannot be produced
by blowing; but by casting, plates have been obtained measuring one hundred
and sixty inches by eighty, or nearly ninety square feet of glass. One now at
the Reform Club-house in Pall Mall is about one hundred and fifty inches by
ninety, and supposed to be the most perfect plate in the world.
St. Helens is a township in the parish of Prescot mentioned hereafter,
and may be said to contain the four townships of Sutton, Parr, Windle,
and Eccleston. It is uninteresting in appearance — straggling and irregular ;
built of red brick ; is iU-paved, dirty, and lies low. It has a neat town-hall,
which contains a news' room, magistrates' court, and police oflGice. The church
of St. Mary is a large building erected of brick ; the other churches are
St. Thomas, bmlt by Mr. Greenall, M.P. for Wigan, provided for by a small
endowment; one at Eccleston, outside the town, built by Mr. Taylor, of Eccleston
Hall, and a chapel of ease to St. Helens at Parr. A canal runs from St. Helens
to Runcorn Gap, passing close to "Warrington, and joining the Mersey : it is
one of the oldest in England. Of the railroad from St. Helens to Runcorn,
about three miles is used as a branch to the great Liverpool and Manchester
Railway, and numerous colliery railways run into the line, connecting with
it the different works.
There are many Irish in St. Helens, and. about four thousand Catholics,
also an Independents' chapel, and a Quakers' meeting-house of great antiquity.
100 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
All sides of the place exhibit tall chimneys and dense smoke ; the chemical
works around exhale sulphurous vapours, and many of the inhabitants have
their houses out of the town in consequence.
Parr, a straggling outlet of St. Helens, contains a great proportion of
the coal pits. Some of the houses have sunk ten or twelve feet below the
surface, others have the walls leaning or tottering. Tliese townships owe their
rapid rise to the coal, situated over part of a "^«W," extending to perhaps
fourteen or fifteen square miles; and being of excellent quality. There are
great numbers employed in the pits; in some nearly as many as two hundred
people, about a third of whom are women. A proprietor engages a collier,
who himself excavates the coal alone, and he employs either his own family (if
he have any), or pays assistants, generally women and children, to convey the
coal which he has cut out to the foot of the shaft; these are called wagoners,
who push it in baskets on a kind of railway laid along the different levels. A
collier would pay twelve or thirteen shillings a week to these assistants; but if
they are of his own family he saves money, as generally his wife and all his
children are employed in the pits, and he can thus make on an average
forty shillings a week, if he have two or more assistants in his own family. He
gets ten and sixpence for what is called a " work," which is seven tons, and
thus acts more in the character of a contractor with the proprietor for the
delivery of coal than as a regular labourer. The hours of work here are
generally seven or eight, or from three or four a.m. to eleven a.m.
In the pits the women wear men's dresses, and are undistinguishable from
the other sex except by their hair or eairings! The moral condition of the
people is low, owing to the system of bringing children into the pits at eight
years of age ; they are in many cases totally uneducated : a child too once set
at work never leaves the employment; the mass are very ignorant, and
although not uncivil, are still rude and uncouth in their address. Infant
schools have been instituted, but these are of trifling use. There are a few
" night schools " where some of the older children and adults attend ; but a
system of education, encouraged by the proprietors, is much wanted. The
health of the colliers is generally good, as the pits are of an even temperature,
and accidents from explosions are rare.
The principal manufacture of St. Helens, as already shewn, is glass. A
species intended to supersede the plate, has been lately manufactured in the
town, and is called German glass, made by foreign workmen, principally
Belgians, introduced by Mr. Pilkington in 1841. This glass is not cast, as
plate glass is, but made somewhat in the mode of window or crown glass,
and intended as a cheap substitute for plate.
In one of the opening pages on entering upon this account of Lancashire
we alluded to the prevalence of red sandstone along the shores of the Mersey,
which upon approaching Liverpool by the railway will be seen cut into deeply
a good part of the way from Newton. In this formation the great tunnel is
LANCASHIRE. 101
excavated, which passes under the town, commenciiig at Edgehill, and loolcing
as if it led to the shores of Averniis, Here we imagined the fictions of
Eastern romance were about to be realized; we mean those which relate, how
from dork and mysterioua caverns descending towards the heart of the earth
some magician leads the hero of the tale, or he is conducted by a talisman in
his possession, until he suddenly finds himself in a palace of enchantment, or
in dehghtful gardens where the trees bear emeralds and rubies more valuable
than the golden apples of the Hesperides, We are carried along by invisible
agency, through or rather under the cEirth, and know not what country is
above our heads in our state of purgatorial darkness, which we imagine is to
prepare us for something out of the common way. All at once, when wc
^nk we are approaching the centre of " the great globe itself," we emerge
into day, and find, it is true, no enchanted palaces around us — no Hesperian
gardens — but one of the finest towns in the world; the abode of industry and
of opulence; the home of commerce and magnificence, familiar to those fiu:
sojoumers who inhabit " realms that Ceesar never knew," — whose merchants
are princes, and whose name is borne in ocean leagues " thrice firom the centre
to the uttermost pole" by all the winds that blow — we are in Liverpool!
Passing out under a fine gateway constructed of freestone, — ^part of the
elegant architectural front of the railway station here exhibited, measuring
above three hundred feet in extent, — we hailed the sunbeams with double
pleasure after our mole-like inhumation, proceeding to the well-known street
of hotek. Dale-street, and " ensconcing ourselves at the sign," or perhaps we
should say hotel, of the Victor of Waterloo,
The first half-hour on entering a large place is passed in resolving,
re-resolving, and frequently making up the mind to nothing at all; and in this
plight we commenced our rambles about the second commercial town in the
kingdom. Liverpool is not without those great lines, or principal thorough-
fares, which are the best guides to the stranger, and are not only acquired by
a single glance at a map, but recognised afterwards with facility by the muL-
tiplicity of passengers and the display of elegant shops which they are certain
102 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
to exhibit. The parUamentary boundary of Liverpool, returning two members,
comprises the townships of Liverpool, Everton, Kirkdale, and part of Toxteth
and West Derby; but the township and parish of Liverpool, which are the
same in superficial extent, cover only 2202 acres.* Dale-street, terminating
on the south at the Mersey and Docks, and continued up Shaws'-brow to the
eastward, along the London-road, Pembroke-place, West Derby-street, Edge-
hill, and the Wavertree-road, constitutes with them a central line of division,
running east and west. This line is crossed at the end of Dale-street, before
ascending Shaws'-brow, by Byrom-street upon the left hand, leading into
New Scotland-road, and then into the Kirkdale-road, by which the suburb of
Everton is attained. On the right, where the Old Haymarket once stood, a
street, generally thronged with people, called Whitechapel, curving to the
right at its farther extremity, and crossing the end of Lord-street, enters
Paradise-street, this last terminating in Hanover-street near the Custom-house.
Thus we mapped the town in our "mind's eye" in four grand divisions,
carrying the last line of street, though not without an obtuse angle, into
Dale-street on the left from Paradise-street, and so up to the Cemetery of
St. James.
Liverpool stands partly upon the red sandstone formation and partly upon
loam and sand; the climate is subject to rain, and the atmosphere is conse-
quently moist. It ranges along the northern shore of the Mersey in mag-
nificent docks, communicating with that river by intermediate basins. The
Mersey is about 1200 yards broad between the Lancashire and Cheshire
shores opposite to the docks, but higher and lower down it is much broader.
This river rises from the union of several small streams within the borders of
Yorkshire, receiving the waters of the Goyt, Bollin, IrweU, and Weaver,
and is first called the Tame ; it forms a wide though shallow stream, in which
mud-banks accumulate and shift continually. The height of the tides which
rise here, fifteen at neap, and thirty feet at spring, obviates much incon-
venience from this cause ; and vessels of seventy or eighty tons can ascend the
river to Warrington, the spring tides rising nine feet at the bridge in that
town. The scenery in the vicinity, except about Toxteth Park and Everton,
is monotonous, everywhere exhibiting a noble town lying in the foreground,
with distant views of sea and hilly land. Whoever desires a knowledge of
Liverpool and its vicinity should ascend the tower of St. George's Church at
Everton. The more distant scenery, towards Wales, will be found the most
attractive part of the prospect, for we visited this spot; and although compared
to Liverpool beneath, it is airy and pleasing, we prefer the higher part of
Toxteth Park looking down the Mersey, the interesting part of the view from
Everton being too distant; but of Everton and its vicinity we shall say more
presently; it suffices now to observe that it lies in the north-eastern quarter
* According to Mr. Buitcrworth's most useful and carefully compiled *< Statistical Sketch of
Lancashire/* containing much valuable information.
LANCASHIRE. 103
of the old town of Liverpool. Toxtetli Park, partly within the borough,
once belonged to the Earls of Derby, in 1591 was disparked, and the Scfton
femily got poBsession of it in 1640, when it was subsequently occupied by
forms; a large portion is now let by Lord Sefton in building lots. It lies on
the south-east of Liverpool, along the shore of the Mersey, in the Kirkdale
division of West Derby hundred, and extends over S397 acres. The portion
within the borough of Liverpool is called Harrington. Edge-hill and Low-
hill, on the east within the borough, are in the township of West Derby and
parish of Walton-on-the-Hill; Eorkdalc, on the north within the borough, is
a township in the parish of Walton.
The rapid progress of Liverpool in commercial opulence and extent of
building is without a parallel in the history of towns. In 1700 the population
was only 4240; and the marriages were in that year but 34; christenings
131; burials 125. Leland speaks of Lyrpole, alias Lyverpole, as a paved
town, probably as many of the turnpike-roads in its vicinity are now paved,
having only a chapel, ita parish church being at Walton. There were only
138 householders liring there in 1565; but it increased so considerably as to
resist Prince Rupert in 1644, being on the side of the Parliament, and having
round it a mud
wall and a ditch
with a castle.
Of what Liver-
pool was after
the chapel of
St. Nicholas was
made the parish
church, and be-
fore a second
church was ;
erected, the fol- !
lowing engrav-
ing of old Liver-
pool will give a correct idea.
In 1730 the inhabitants had increased to 12,000; and the first vessel,
except a small sloop, sailed to A£:ica on the piratical traffic in slaves, now
abolished, happily for humanity. One dock had been made, and an Act
was applied for to make a second in 1738; and in 1740 the population had
reached 18,000. The slave-ships increased from 15 in 1730, to 74 in 1760,
when the town had 25,787 inhabitants; and a new dock was finished in 1771 ;
while in that year 105 ships sailed for Africa, The internal canal navigation,
belonging to the Duke of Bridgewater, now began to benefit the town. A
theatre was built in 1772; and in the following year a census was taken, and
the houses inhabited found to be 5928, having 8002 families and 34,407
104 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
inhabitants; the deaths annually being one in 27^ of the population. In
1774 no less than 989 British and 61 foreign vessels entered Liverpool, and
about the same number cleared outwards; and in 1784 there were of British
1217, and of foreign vessels 1446. In 1793 they had increased to 1704
British and 1739 foreign; and in 1805 the number of vessels of all kinds was
4618. In 1815 the number was 6440; and in 1819 the dock duties had
reached 117,962/. annually, and the ships 7849; while in 1840 the number of
vessels attained 15,998; and the dock dues (in 1752 only 1776/. 8*. 2rf.),
reached 197,477/. I8s. 6d. The customs dues are between four and five
millions sterling, the cotton imported reaching a million and a half of bags.
The imports approach a value of twenty millions : the exports exceeding that
sum by a fourth; and it is calculated that 1800 tons of goods pass daily between
Liverpool and Manchester. This will fornish an idea of the magnitude of the
trade of this mighty town, which is said to possess a traffic equal to one-half
of London, one-fourth of all the foreign trade of the empire, one-twelfth of
the shipping, and one-sixth of the general commerce. During the war it sent
to sea one-third more armed vessels with licenses to sail without convoy than
all the other British ports put together.
The site of Liverpool is low, and we regret that upon examining the
returns of the population for 1841, and comparing them with those of the
births, marriages, and deaths, we should have found such a startling result
— a result not so surprising to us as it would be had we not seen some of the
older returns. In 1662, the baptisms were 30, and burials 30 ; in 1700, as
above, the former 131, the burials 125; in 1800, the baptisms 3033, burials
3157. The births registered in 1839, when a close approximation to correct-
ness in the returns took place, were 7128, deaths 7437; in 1840, with a
population of 223,054, the returns shewed 9990 deaths to 9925 births. Wc
then went further, and made calculations upon a basis every way favourable;
for we applied to the Population Ketums of 1841 the Registrar-General's
return of births and deaths for 1840 in Liverpool, consequently we applied
them to nearly the tenth part of a clear increase more than we ought, and
the result, compared with the totality of England exclusively of Wales, made
from a table in which the decimal surplus population was deducted from
England alone, gives the following figures:
Birth to Pop. Deaths to Pop. Marr. to Pop. Births to Marr.
^Ztr^al^o:^:^^^^^^ lto~74.45 lt;T25-29 i^3
Liverpool, 2-23,054 . . . 1 to 2247 1 to 22*82 1 to 60-6 2-6
Here are puzzling anomalies ; double the deaths and marriages, and little
more than half the number of births averaged in the totality of England.
This statement we have been the first to give so minutely on the returns of
1841, and we submit it with regret to the high-minded and public-spirited
inhabitants of Liverpool, for they may perhaps probe the cause. It is evident
LANCASHIBB. 105
that the increase of 4821 inhabitants in the last ten years, muBt have ariaen
from the influx of new residents. Manchester and Salford increased nearly
£6,000 in the same space of time on a population of 268,000.*
Before the Municipal Act, Liverpool was governed by a Mayor, Recorder,
Aldermen, and a Council of forty -one hurgesaea; but the present Council
under the Municipal Act, elected in sixteen wards, conaista of forty-eight, who
elect a Mayor and sixteen Aldermen. There are regular borough sessions,
and a common and fire poKce establishment In 183&-9, the Corporation
income waa 246,000/, and 101,000/, were expended in street improvements ;
and between 1786 and 1838, 1,688,496/. Their revenue is now 300,000/.;
and it is a singular circumstance in the history of this wonderful town, that in
1793, though now so enormously rich, they were obliged to apply to Par-
liament for relief; and when they did this, the statement of their income for
1792 waa only 25,000/., the value of their property 1,046,776/.: and it may
be concluded as the most flattering view they could take of their affairs,
they were in debt 867,816/. The number of burgeasea who elect the Town
Council is 9406. The parliamentary electors, 8727 &eemen included, were,
in 1836—12,492.
We walked up Dale-street into Water-street opposite St George's Dock,
passing those extensive warehouses, wiUi their long arcade called Goree Build-
ings, large enough to contain the cargoes of a navy of merchantmen. They
were erected in 1802, in place of other warehousea that were destroyed by a
disastrous fire, which consumed merchandise stored up in them to the value of
nearly a million
sterling. These
warehouses axe
five stories high
above the ar-
cade beneath ;
theyform a uni-
form and ex-
tensive front of
moat impoaing
appearance and i
proportiona,
and face Saint
George's dock,
towards which
we were going, presenting the aspect here displayed by the artist.
From this point we set out to visit the northernmost division of the docks,
and passing by the north battery, round the Clarence Docks, to take a glance
106 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
at the lower part of the Mersey, and the entire port, over against what haa
been called New Brighton, on the Cheshire shore; in imitation, we presume,
of the famed time-killing place of that name in Sussex. We first crossed an
iron bridge at the end of St. George's dock; which dock was made in 176J2,
and covers 26,793 square yards of surface ; having a communication with Can*
ning dock, once denominated the " dry dock," on the east, built in 1738, and
principally occupied with north country vessels. Canning dock has a quay
500 yards long, and communicates with Salthouse dock, yet more to the
southward, which possesses an area of 2025 square yards, and a quay called
Comhill, having a building yard between that and the sea. We continued
our route to the edge of the river, where passengers were embarking and
landing from the steamers; always an amusing scene. The ladies, not all
heroines, and some, we hope we are not ill-natured in the remark, evidently
affecting a fear they did not really feel, could not but attract attention in the
way of condolence and
kind offices. Ontheedge
of the quay, behind St.
[ George's Dock, arc sit-
Iuated some of the most
commodious and hand-
some baths we have ever
seen, measuring 239 feet
in length, divided into
wings, one for each sex,
replete with every con-
venience. The front forma a handsome sheltered colonnade of coupled columns,
as here exhibited.
We next coasted the basin, having opposite to \is the church of St. Nicholas
erected on the site of the former chapel, and crossing sundry drawbridges
passed down Prince's terrace, on the river side of the dock of that name.
Prince's dock is 500 yards long, and covers 57,129 square yards ; it was com-
pleted in 1821. The gates are forty-five feet wide, and thirty-four deep; and
it is surrounded by a high brick wall, which seems to have been constructed
with the utmost possible degree of durability; for, on the end next St. George's
dock, they were takmg down a portion of the wall but a pereh or two in extent,
and we observed that they cut the wall into pieces of a yard square, and car-
ried away the portions entire, depositing them the flat way, one upon another,
as if they had been single stones ; an experiment by which modem brickwork
in some larger and richer places than even Liverpool will not hear to be
tested We examined this dock internally, and then walked the whole length
on the outside by the Mersey, watching the busy scene on the river where
numberless vessels were moving. This walk measures 750 yards in length,
and ends at a basin which we were obliged to walk a good part round to
continue our march.
LANCASHIRE. 107
Of the foreign vessels in these docks those of the United States struck ua
before all others for their great beauty of form and superior neatness of con-
dition. In Prince's dock they are seen to great advantage ; their starred or
striped ensigns waving peacefully in the breeze by the sides of those of the
parent nation; and may they ever so wave! The accommodations they afford
to passengers are not merely elegant but luxurious; and though in the strength
of our vessels we may surpass them, in beauty of form, and capability of sailing,
our ships are seldom their equals. The docks of Liverpool are a sight of never-
ending novelty, and the busy scenes they continually present afford excellent
studies of individual character from all countries — ^for what flag is not found
there ? — ^and of the capabilities and fruits of human industry. Here is the
vessel deeply laden, just passing out of the dock gates for a voyage to the
antipodes; there is another, destined perhaps to the '^ Indus," and afterwards
to " the Pole." Now the weather-beaten rigging and patched sails of a ship,
preparing to enter, speak of tempests encountered beyond the equator, or
amid the icebergs and snowy cQves of Greenland. It is not in the metropolis
after all, where so much exists to distract attention, in which thousands must
needs live who do not know where the West India Docks are, pr that the
Isle of Dogs possesses a canal, who see the colliers in the Thames, and believe
they are the ships of traffic of which the newspapers speak — ^it is not in the
metropolis, where all are so much occupied, so divided and scattered over so
vast a STirface, that our commercial relations in their visible materiel are to
be comprehended with most facility. At Liverpool, the second commercial
place in the empire, all is compact, immense though it be, and the surface
comparatively small, so that although the results are great, they are under the
glance. Liverpool led the way in the system of docks, placing the merchants*
property beyond the reach of depredation; and she has proved by her great
career the soundness of the maxim, that commerce, to flourish, must be left
free, and not pampered by restrictions or laws enacted by those who have
no just comprehension of trade or of the basis of its essential principle* The
character of the Liverpool merchant has become well established for probity,
another great element of success. ** We may succeed for a time by fraud, by
surprise, by violence ; we can succeed permanenUy only by means directly
opposite. It is not alone the courage, the intelligence, the activity of the
merchant and the manufacturer, which maintain the superiority of their pro-
ductions and the commerce of their country; it is far more their wisdom, their
economy, and, above all, their probity. If ever in the British islands the
useful citizen should lose these virtues, we may be sure that for England,
as well as for any other country, the vessels of a degenerate commerce, repulsed
from every shore, would speedily disappear from those seas whose surface they
now cover with the treasures of the universe, bartered for the treasures of the
industry of the three kingdoms.'**
* Baron Dupia
108 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
It was impossible for us to look down that line of docks — so prolonged^ so
substantially constructed, so numerous, the quays covered with crowds of
people, and the flags in the capacious basins displaying their many-coloured
insignia — ^to see the north and south, and east and west, thus brought
together in one pacific pursuit, and not feel that something must be due to the
unflagging perseverance, bold adventure, and sound commercial judgment
which concentrated so great a mass of wealth, such vast stores of the fruits of
industry in a town a few years ago so insignificant as that its existence was
scarcely known. It was no light eflfort, no fallible calculation in the way of
trade, that raised such a place to be the second port of England, for such is
the rank held and merited too by the British Tyre.
Such were our thoughts as we passed Waterloo Dock, comprehending
80,764 square yards of surface; and close by it Victoria Dock, but a few yards
less in size, and next succeeding that of Trafalgar, larger than either of the
other two, covering no less than 33,000 square yards. We finally reached
Clarence Dock, the principal resort of the steam-vessels, opened in 1830, and
having 29,313 square yards of surface. Beyond Clarence Dock are two new
graving docks; and there this magnificent line of maritime receptacles termi-
nates ; a fort and battery, protecting the entrance of the river, being a very
little way beyond. It must be remembered that we have only enumerated the
northern half of the line of docks from St. George's, and that others remain of
all sizes, to the southward, extending as far as the Borough limits.*
The Spaniards have a saying that he who has not seen Seville has seen
nothing; and it may be said that he who has not seen Liverpool has not
seen England. This town, vast in its commercial relations and full of hand-
some buildings and warehouses, that seem formed to receive the stores of
empires, is Uke no other that we know, having something peculiarly its own,
that marks a strong distinction. It is not Uke Bristol, with its antiquity and
dirt; nor Uke Hull, nor Yarmouth, nor the Metropolis. Its appearance stamps
it with a character wholly modem, while its gigantic constructions along the
Mersey proclaim the triumph of modem science called into action by the
wealth of commerce, producing results which in a country merely agricultural
could never have so developed the capabilities of industry and science
in powerful union — the law of commerce being that of progression in
all things. Thus we continued to meditate as we beheld the Clarence
Docks filled with vessels navigated upon a principle that is destined in process
of time to supersede every other, and literally render Britons rulers of
the waves.
Our attention being drawn to the side of the river by a group of steamers
* The dry basini of Liverpool cover 99,107 square yards. The different wet docks occupy a water
superficies of 448,995 square yards; and boidering upon them are 15,613 yards of quay. In other
terms the area of water in these magnificent works is 90 acres S3Q4 yards, and the quays measure seven
miles 156 yards in length.
LANCASHIRE. 109
which had just arrived, we went over to them, and were much amused by the
odd scene their decks exhibited. The stem part raised beyond the waist, as
usual contained a freight of bipeds, old and young, some decently clothed,
others in looped and windowed garments, conversing in a jargon that for what
we knew might be Chaldee. The prolific virtues of the potatoe — to the horroy
of those economists who would subject nature to mechanical rules, that the
few might profit by the self-denial and unhappiness of the many — ^was here
shewn in the numerous progeny that accompanied the squalid but good-
humoured passengers. The deck, from the waist forward, was crowded with
sheep and pigs; so that it was difficult, without seeing it, to conceive the medley
of living creatures and disgusting filth. While the animals on the deck were
dowly driven along a plank up to the whaxf, which was considerably higher
than the vessel, sailors were busily engaged at the windlass, and presently
we saw a large bullock emerge from the hatchway, like a lifeless log, suspended
in the air by a rope round the body. The poor beast seemed paralyzed, for
on being lowered upon the dirty deck he sunk down as if he had never known
the use of his legs ; but, on the sling upon which he was raised being pulled
from under him, he rose as if he recollected himself, and " moved aft *' as is
the sea phrase. A second animal then slowly ascended to the light of day in
the same manner, the saUors treating them all as unconcernedly as if they
had been bags of cotton.*
The docks and quays next the river are bounded by a wall of hewn
stones of great solidity and massy workmanship: unfortunately, the material
employed is not the most durable. The red sandstone is perishable; and we
were happy to see that in the repairs recently made, granite has been intro-
duced. Had all the works here been constructed of this material, though
costly from carriage, repairs not being required, it would in the end have
been great economy. The docks have each a dock-master, and there is one
harbour-master over all. The docks and quays are under the care of a police
especially appointed for that purpose; and those who compose that body
prove themselves both vigilant and able, as there is but little loss by plunder.
The rules for regulating the dock business are rigidly enforced; and the
government is vested by Act of Parliament in a committee of twenty-one,
thirteen trustees and eight ratepayers. The trustees are appointed by the
common councU, and all retire in turn at the end of a given term, four at a
time, but are eligible for re-election.
Keeping within the same quarter, namely, that we have described as
situated between Dale-street on the east, and New Scotland-road northwards,
we proceeded by the Mersey until we were nearly opposite the North
Battery, when turning to the right we crossed into the Victoria-road, and
passed along Great Howard-street to the gaol belonging to the borough,
* As fan back as 1832, the value of the stock, graioi pork, and butter imported into Liverpool, was
no less tlian 4,444,500/. within the year.
110 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTO RT :
erected on the plan of the philanthropist Howard. It eeems airy and well-
constructed; but we were Bony to leam that ita inmates were mostly unfor-
tunate debtors. Here we caught a glimpse of the Leeds and Liverpool
Canal; and glancing at St. Paul's church, we turned round, and going down
Old Hall-street entered the Exchange under the arcade at the back part.
This fabric was begun in 1803, and cost 110,848/., and is a handsome
structure, forming three sides of a square, built upon an arcade of rustic
work. The centre of the western side is composed of coupled three-quarter
Corinthian columns, supporting caryatides. The wings and two other &onts
have Corinthian pilasters over the basement. The arcade ext«QdB 197 feet by
178; and in the centre of the piazza, better decorated widi a statue of the
hero than the allegorical composition it contains, is a monument to the memory
of Nelson, by Westmacott. As Commerce and Peace are twin-sisters, the
piazza of a commercial exchange can hardly be deemed in character with a
warlike monument decorated with trophies. The defect of the Exchange
buildings is, that the Town-hall stands in the way of a substitute for one side,
which it does not sufficiently fill: and the observer cannot exclude the idea
that it Ib an unfinished work.
The Town-hall, a handsome Palladian building, was erected by Wood of
Bath in 1749. The &ont has Corinthian columns upon a rustic basement,
and is a hcautiiul and tasteful work; but over the top stands a cupola,
which, when viewed firom St, George's-crescent, seems to crush the building,
being much too large to be sightly, although it has been considerably reduced
subsequent to the original erection of the edifice. The interior, besides the
rooms on the basement story, contains a saloon, opening firom the staircase,
thirty feet long; two drawing-rooms, about the same length and twenty-five
high. There is also a hall-room, eighty-nine feet by forty-one; and a second,
sixty-one by twenty-eight; a banqueting-room, fifty by thirty; and a refectory,
thirty-six by twenty-one. The whole is elegantly fitted up; and on the landing
LANCAgHIREi 111
of the staircEtEe there is a etatuc of Canning, by Chantrey, who had much
attached himself to the town, as the town had to him. The external dome
IB crowned with a figure of Britannia, seen in the engra\-ing.
Not fer from
the Town-hall
is the Sessions-
house, where
the assizes are
held lor the
hundred of
West Derby. It
is a plain build-
ing, extending
in front 174
feet, construct-
ed of stone, and
osedalsobythe
Court of Re-
quests. Crossii^ Dale-street into South Castle-street, the New Custom-house
is seen directly in front. This building, by far the finest in Liverpool, botli
in magnitude and architectoial execution, was begun in 1828, by Mr. Foster,
the architect to the corporation, and was erected by that body, who pre-
sented the land and completed the work — the cost, 150,000/., being repaid
from Government by instalments of 25,000/. annually. The basement is
vaulted for the reception of goods in bond; all the western portion is
devoted to the customs, and the southern part is occupied by the General
Post-ofEce, above which is the Excise-office. The remainder of tixe building
contains the Stamp-otHce, the Dock Treasurer's and Secretary's offices, the
112 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
Board-room and offices of the Dock Committee. This spacious and handsome
edifice is built in the form of a double cross, one front facing Castle-street and
the other Canning-place; and both fronts are of the Ionic order, on a rustic
basement. It stands near where the old dock was situated, the walls being
brought up from the bottom thirty feet and upwards below the street level.
The material is a warm-coloured freestone from Cheshire; the extreme length
466 feet, and the width at the wings ninety-four. The columns are above
fifty feet high, and five in diameter; there is nothing superfluous about the
design; all is simple and grand, resting for effect, as may be seen, upon the
magnitude of the parts and the harmony of the proportions.
The Royal Institution has nothing to boast of in its architectural details,
having been originally a private house, which was purchased and altered for
the objects that the founders had in view, — the promotion of literature,
science, and the arts, by means of academic schools and public lectures ; the
encouragement of societies who may unite for similar objects ; the collection
of books, objects of art, and natural history; the formation of a chemical
laboratory and philosophical apparatus, and the association of proprietors for
these purposes; and it was opened in 1817, with a discourse from the
venerable William Roscoe. The house with the wings extends 146 feet in
front, and contains suitable apartments for such an institution, with an excel-
lent Museum, consisting of objects of natural history, casts from antique
sculptures, and everything that can contribute to extend the boimds of know-
ledge in a large and opident town.
The Athenaeum was the first thing of the kind established in this coimtry.
The building is neat and plain, possessing a library and newsroom, belonging
to a body of 600 subscribing proprietors, and opened in 1799. The number
of volumes in the library is 14,000: they do not circulate, but every accom-
modation for reading is provided in the building, which is in Bold-street.
The Lyceum, also in Bold-street, was established by subscription, and
reckons 800 subscribers. The building was erected for the purpose, at an
expense of 11,000/.; and the library reckons 80,000 volumes: there are
separate rooms for reading newspapers and for periodical literature.
The Union Newsroom in Duke-street, and the Exchange Newsroom in
the Exchange-buildings, are elegant saloons, devoted to the purposes which
their names imply. There is also what is called the Underwriters-room in
the Exchange-buildings, which is provided with newspapers and all kinds of
publications relative to the shipping interest, resembling Lloyds in the metro-
polis. These are the principal, out of many estabhshments of a similar
character, but of comparatively trivial extent. Among other scientific institu-
tions, that called the Medical Institution, at Mount Pleasant, having a circular
front, the curve of which is 198 feet, frimished with a lecture-room and
museum, struck us as having a very pleasing effect; and bears a character
of considerable utility. There is also an Apothecaries' Hall, erected at an
LANCASHIRE. 113
expense of 20,000/. ; but it would appear that it is no more than a mercantile
dispenaary of drugSj unconnected nitli any direct scientific purpose.
A Mechanics' Institution was opened in Mount-street in 18S5 ; the first
stone of the building being laid in the same year, constructed of the Ionic
order, but not completed; and possessing ample accommodations for eyery
thing connected with such an establishment. The interior was nearly con-
sumed by fire in 1837. The land was given by the corporation; and the
edifice covers nearly an acre of ground. A Polytechnic School has been
established recently in connexion with this institution. There is also an insti-
tution in St, Anne-street, founded in 1835, for supplying useful information
and instruction to young men connected with professional or commercial
pursuits.
The Boyal Bank is an
entiiely new building, in
the Grecian taet«, which,
while its exterioris remark-
able for its handsome and
chaste appearance, it is in-
ternally adapted with more
than common ingenuity to
the objects for which it
was erected.
With public amusements
Liverpool may be consi-
dered amplyprovided; and
before the decline of the
it^e generally, £rom the
felling off in actors or
the change in public feel-
ing, which dwelling upon — ~* j.T^
tiie realities of existence
can find entertainment no longer in what is merely imaginative, and little
beneficial either in the way of instruction or amusement — in fact, in the better
times of the drama, Liverpool was celebrated for its patronage of the sock
and buskin. The Old Theatre, built in 1772, situated on the east side of
WilUamson-«quare, is open firom May to December. It has a stone semi-
circular fi-ont, adorned with figures in relief, and the royal anna; the
interior is convenient. The Liver Theatre in Church-street is opened only
during the winter months, and is neatly fitted up for representations of the
same kind as are given in the minor theatres of the metropolis. The royal
amphitheatre in Great Charlotte-street, near St. John's-market, is an elegant
edifice, well adapted to its object of exhibiting equestrian feats, pantomimes,
and melodramatic pieces; the firont covered with Roman cement, plain and
114 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
unomamented. There are ball-rooms, tlie principal called the Wellington
Rooms, convenient in every respect for large assemblies, but characterized by
nothing more than the better kind of accommodation required for such edifices.
Chancing to visit the Post-office for our letters, the day being fine we
directed our steps to [the contiguous southern dock, which we have already
mentioned, passing the end of the Duke's Dock, which belonged to the
Duke of Bridgewater, and is now the property of his trustees. It was
made to receive the flat canal vessels, and possesses large warehouses for
the reception of the goods thu;s conveyed. From Wapping, we entered
the Bang's Dock, to see the extensive tobacco warehouses which are built
there parallel with the Mersey. These buildings are 675 feet long by 238
wide, and cover more than three acres and a quarter within the walls, being a
huge house for the receipt of a duty that operates as a bonus to the smuggler;
it is rented by the government. King's Dock covers 87,776 square yards,
and has 875 yards of quay, the part nearest the Mersey forming a pleasant
promenade opposite the broader part of the river. On the eastern side of the
King's Dock is a basin which communicates both with that and a dock situated
fiirther in onjthe east, called Queen's Dock, much larger, for it covers 51,501
square yards, and has 1255 yards of quay. This dock is principally filled with
timber ships and Dutch vessels, and it communicates with a dry dock, called
Brunswick Half-tide Dock, and through that with Brunswick Dock, built in
1832; the two latter having together a superficies of 70,069 square yards,
admitting vessels of 1000 tons. It is principally used by shipping in the
timber trade. Brunswick Dock also communicates with the Mersey by a
basin of its own; and further south, between Sefton-street and the river, are
the Harrington Docks, applied principally to the timber trade, consisting
of two wet open docks, 600 feet long. There are various basins or docks
higher up the river, but in size they are insignificant in comparison with those
we have enumerated. In this quarter of Liverpool, keeping in mind the four
divisions to which we before alluded, and in which the Custom-house and
Post-office stand, are St. James's-street and Mill-street, leading to Toxteth
Park, of which all that is within the borough is laid out for streets, some com-
pleted, and many others begun. The high ground here affords a fine prospect
across the Mersey into Cheshire, as well as over Lancashire. On the top
of James-street taking Upper Parliament-street, situated upon the left hand;
and on the left again, in the last-named street, we came upon St. James's
Cemetery.
The proper approach to this last resting-place of mortality is along Duke-
street, which is easily found from the Exchange, by going up Castle-street
and turning to the left-hand at the Custom-house. This cemetery was once a
quarry of red sandstone, and comprises altogether 44,000 square yards of
ground, which is not as much as the Queen's Dock. It is surrounded by a
wall and iron railings, and on the western side has rather incongruously
LAKCA8BIBB. 115
a'public esplanade; but the peculiarity of the cemetery is, that it consietB prin-
cipally of catacombs, having ample doorways, amounting in all to one hundred
and 6ve. There are four entrances; the interior is planted and laid out
neatly, a chapel erected on a conspicuous part of the ground in the Grecian
taste rising over all, the whole being very appropriate. Mr. Huekisson's
remains reat near the centre of the ground, and a circular monument with ten
columns surmounted by a dome
is placed over ttiem, and the
statue of the deceased by Gibson
in the centre beneath, habited in
a toga. The fault of this ceme-
tery in ourviewis, that it displays
too much of art ; it is an ornament
of death formed in the midst of
streets densely populated as if the
King of Terrors in this thrifty ■
nation must be made the most of, '
in the way of pecuniary return. '
In one spot in the cemetery we
saw the site of a grave marked by .
a bed of flowers, and were told
that this singular memorial had .
been a last request of the youth-
ful tenant, a young lady, who fell
a victim to consumption — "the
iairest still the fleetest." There are several monuments in the ground dis-
playing considerable taste, and a few which to us seemed ofllensive by the
116 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
ftdsomeriess of their laudations. As we left this last sojourn of mortals we
were more than ever in the mind to agree with the author of the Minstrel :
Mine be the breesy hill that skirts the down.
Where a green grassy turf is all I crave,
With here and there a violet bestrewn.
Fast by a brook or fountain's murmuring wave^
The esplanade we have alluded to above, before the quarry was made into
a cemetery, was a place of public resort, shaped for that purpose by one of the
chief magistrates, and previously called Quarry Hill, His worship thought-
lessly, it being out of name for a public promenade, called it Mount Zion,
thinking perhaps that there was no reason why a pleasant walk should not
have a good name, upon the principle of a late divine, who applied to song
tunes the words of the psalms, because it was "a, pity that the devil should have
all the good times." Thus Quarry Hill was exalted into " Mount Zion," but
his worship's well meaning was misinterpreted by a fastidious Welch clergy-
man, who was " horrified " as the ladies say, at seeing the words, " bottled beer
to be had," recorded upon the door leading to the Mount Zion of Liverpool.
This was not aU ; the reverend gentleman invoked the Muse of Satire to his aid,
and wrote some verses, which, after alluding to a sign of bottled beer upon
the door of Mount Zion, concluded —
But thou who hear*st the poor man's prayer,
Protect the innocent and guard the fair.
And, if thou can'st forgive, forgive the Mayor \
The Mayor, evidently the best practical Christian of the two, had employed
the poor out of work during a hard winter to make the walk. The name was
next changed to the Mount; and then, to heal the breach entirely, it was
placed under the tutelage of St. James, and is named at present St. James's
Walk. The river, the verdant coast of Cheshire opposite, and sometimes
the mountains of Wales, are visible from it, shipping and houses composing
the foreground of the picture ; but the finest objects are too far distant; while
what is wanting in picturesque efiect, being artificial, is too near to lay claim
to more than a pleasing relief in the way of picture from the monotony of the
street houses. But then this is so close at home as to be of inestimable value
to those who can step upon it almost from their own doors, and it presents the
town in all its expansion close at hand.*
* It is scarcely possible to look down upon the streets and structures between the Mount and the
Mersey without calling to mind the late Lord Erskine's description of the effect produced by a similar
prospect of this town. In his happiest vein of eloquence he says: " If I were capable of painting in
words the impression Liverpool made on my imagination, it would form a beautiful picture indeed !
bad before often been at the principal seaports in this island, and believing that having seen Bristol
and those other towns that deservedly pass for great ones, I had seen everything in this great nation of
navigators on which a subject should pride himself; I own I was astonished and astounded, when, after
passing a distant ferry and ascending a hill, I was told by my guide,^-'All you see spread out beneath
LANCASHIBE. 117
The Liverpool Infirmary in Bro-wnlow-street, opened in 1824, having
been removed &om another site, is a handsome building, the &ont narrower
than the back part, which is thrown out in wings. This front consists of two
anta and a cell, the cornice
of which is supported by
six Ionic columns, the ant«
haying pilasters. The depth
from the front to the back
is above a hundred feet,
and the width &om the
extremity of one wing to
another above two hun- '
dred. There are twenty '
rooms on the entrance floor,
belowwhich there is a suite I
of ground apartments. It I
contains twenty wards in
all, with 234 beds; and the
management is in a com-
mittee of gentlemen; a
surgeon, matron, and four apprentices reside in the infirmary.
A Lunatic Asylum stands on Brownlow-hill, erected in 1829 ; an extensive
building, which appears to be well regulated.
The other charitable institutions of Liverpool are numerous. There is an
Opthalmic hospital, which has relieved nearly 30,000 patients; a " Northern
Hospital," accommodating sixty patients; a Lock hospital; and two Dispen-
saries, one of which is a handsome bnilding, situated in the Vauxhall-road ;
both conducted by a general committee of the same individuals. We can only
enumerate the principal of the other charitable establishments in this wealthy
and magnificent town: namely, a blue-coat school, founded in 1709, having
250 boys and 100 girls;! a school for the indigent blind; a house of recovery;
a strangers' friend society; a Welch charitable society; a penitentiary, and a
county refuge for the destitute; a marine society; Liverpool charitable, ladies'
lying-in, and district provident, societies; an institution for instructing the
deaf and dumb, and numerous others. One other estabUshment, peculiar we
you — tli«l immense pUin vhieh ilsnds lite anatlier Venice upon the water*— which ii inleneeted by
those numeroui doclci — which glitleri with those cheerrul habitationa or weli-protecled men — which ii
the buay wat of trade, and Ihe gay icene or elegant amusemenls, growing out of iu prosperilj — whera
there ii the moat cheerrul face of induitry — where there are riohtt oierflowing, and CTcrything that
can delight a man who wiahea to seethe proiperity of a great community and a great empire, — all Ihia
bai been created by Ihe induitry and weU-di>ciplined management of a handrul oF men liace you were
a boy.' I must have been a itick or a stone not to be affected by such a picture."
j- The blue-cont lehool has an hospital attached lo !t; a plain building, conalructed oF brick and
atone, erected in 1726.
118 ENGLAND IN THE NINBTEBNTH CENTURY:
believe to Liverpool, deserves to be honourably mentioned; it is tie Charitable
Institution House, erected for the accommodatioii of the committees of the
different charitable societies connected -with the town. Opportunities are thus
afforded to the members of the different institutions of becoming acquainted
with the proceedings of each other, by which mutual interference is pre-
vented, and abuses of the charities rendered easy of detection.
Passing along Dale-street up Shaw's-brow, and keeping to the left
through Islington and Brunswick-road, we came into the Derby-road in the
north-eastern quarter of the town, and following this road for some distance
reached the Zoological Gardens, which are upon the right just within the
borough limit, near the West Derby "Workhouse, and beyond the Necropolis.
These gardens are laid out with a good deal of taste; and the ground being
adapted by nature for such a purpose, irregular and spacious, comprising no
less than ten acres, affords a variety of surface which admits of considerable
picturesque display.
Nothing has been
omitted here in the
way of ornament;
the trees, shrubs,
and flowers are
manifold in their
varieties, and
grouped with judg-
ment. The animals
are well accommo-
dated, numerous,
and apparently in
good condition.
Entertainments are
given occasionally
of the same nature as those in the Surrey Zoological Gardens of the metro-
polis; while Liverpool possesses, besides this interesting and valuable estab-
lishment, a Botanic Garden at the top of Edge-hill, extending over eleven
acres, laid out with exact attention to the objects for which it was created.
The cost of these extensive and useful undertakings is defrayed by sub-
scription, abundantly indicating the munificence of the townspeople, as well
as the great extent of their pecuniary resources, to which no other place out
of the metropolis affords a parallel example.
The Necropolis is a cemetery of considerable extent, called locally the
Low-hill Cemetery; and is surrounded by a lofty wall, enclosing an oblong
square of about five acres in superficial extent. A portion, ten feet from the
wall all round on the interior side, is set apart for a colonnade, to receive
tombs and inscriptions ; but only a part of this, on one of Uic sides, is yet
LANCASHIRE. 119
completed; and the centre is l^d out in an ornamental shrubbery. The
entrance consists of a stone front, having two lodges, with Doric pillars
between, supporting a cornice of the same order, remarkably neat and well-
proportioned. The service of the Church of England, or any other, may be
read hero by the clergyman of the denomination to which the deceased may
happen to belong ; and a chaplain is appointed, who reads the service when
desired without any fees, which service is that of the Church of England,
with a slight alteration of one or two passages. The arrangements and care
of the cemetery are under the management of a committee of gentlemen, who
suffer nothing savouring of bad taste, indecorous or ludicrous, to appear in
the mortuary inscriptions.
The Everton-road passes along the western side of the Necropolis leading
into Everton village; an agreeable place, out of the bustle of Liverpool; and
here, down what is called Rupert-place, yet stands the cottage occupied by
Prince Bupert as his head-quarters during the siege of Liverpool in 1644.
It consists of one story, and most probably stood alone in the fields at that
period, though now surrounded by dwellings. It is whitewashed, and presents
to the passenger the foDowing aspect, appearing to be careinlly preserved as a
relic of the contest for absolute power in this part of the country between a
monarch and his people.
It appears that Prince
Rupert and the Earl of
Derby, after having taken
Eolton, went to make Liver-
pool an easy conquest, but
found it defended by a mud
wall on die east and north,
having a deep ditch; and
upon the wall, bags of
Irish wool were piled, of
which a large importation
happened just before to have taken place. A wide marsh inundated from
the Mersey rendered the town inaccessible on the south-east side, and the
streets in that direction were closed by gates defended with cannon; while on
the south side was a strong castle surrounded with a wide and very deep
ditch, well defended by artillery. Prince Rupert was repulsed again and again
for above a month, with great slaughter; but at last, some accounts say by
the treachery of the commandant, others by neglect in defending the side next
the marshes, the place was entered, and all who were met put to the sword,
except those in the castle, who capitulated. The town was very soon after
retaken by Colonel Birch, and continued to remain true to the popular cause.
Everton is older than Liverpool, and not long ago was at some con-
siderable distauce from the buildings of the present tovm; standing upon
120 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTDRY :
lofty land compared to Liverpool itself, and more than a mile from the
boundary of the old town. The manor once belonged to John of Gaunt ; by
■whose son, Henry IV,, it became vested in the Crown, and there remained
until in 1629 Charles I. sold it, as he did much of the Crown property, to
raise money for his private purposes ; and it afterwards was resold to Lord
Stanley and Strange, Here was an ancient beacon, erected in the reign of
Henry III., blown down in 1803, the site of which is occupied by the church
of St. George. This beacon
consisted of three stories:
the lowest was a kitchen,
the upper rooms were des-
cribed as spacious; and on
an angle of the fort was a
stone hollow for placing
combustibles to be kindled
in case of an enemy's land-
ing, as it was conspicuous
as far north-cast as Riving-
ton Pike and Ashurst Bea-
con. St, George's Church
is a neat edifice, ojwned
in 1814; the view from the
top of the tower is well
worth the trouble of an
ascent. Everton is now
connected with Liverpool by several streets, which run parallel with Church-
street and Domingo-road, having cross lines. Everton-brow and Brunswick-
crescent run up from the town into the village, as well as Brunswick-
road. Proceeding along the hill summit, and going northward, while
passing a large house called St. Domingo, built vrith the spoils of priva-
teering obtained from a ship belonging to what was then a French colony, a
perfect view is obtained of Liverpool, the Mersey down to its mouth, and the
more distant eea. In clear weather the higher Welch mountains are visible,
as well as those of Cumberland, but in iaint outline only. This eminence is
about 200 feet above the Mersey, but the country round being low, with a good
deal of water, this height will be found enough to afford a pretty extensive
prospect. FoUovring the road a little fiirther, the village of Kirkdale appears;
through and almost up to which streets are planned or completed in more
than one line ; the principal of these is called New Scotland-road, and termi-
nates in Byiom-strect on the south, and on the north crossing a parallel road
called the Boundary-road, going through Kirkdale, and intersecting the
Everton road nearly at the northern end of that village. Out of the Kirkdale-
road on the left, along Castle or Smith streets, is the way to the Gaol for the
LANCABHIRE. ISl
hundred of West Derby. This building is very large, stands in a healthful
situation, covers 28,648 square yards of ground, and is adapted for 800
prisoners, who can be divided into twenty-two classes; possessing too an enor-
mous treadmill, capable of admitting 130 prisoners upon it at once. The form of
the building is circular, terminating in wings of a square figure, the chapel in
the centre. The arrangements are considered to be of the best kind, particu-
larly for apportioning punishments, and for separating oflfenders of different
shades of guilt from intercourse with each other, which is effected by means
exceedingly judicious. Kirkdale is a township of a very ancient date, and was
the property of the De la More family in 1S80. Their Kirkdale residence, a
curious relic of antiquity, was lately pidled down ; the name was Bankhall ;
it was surrounded by a moat, over which was a bridge leading to a turretcd
gateway, decorated with stone carvings; and this led to the inner court. The
hall was open to the roof, and the beams and rafters covered with old carved
work, representing implements of war, heraldic designs, and family shields.
The structures of Liverpool, applied to the purposes of religious worship,
are numerous, as we have before observed. The only church that possessed
a claim to antiquity was that of St. Nicholas, the earliest parish records
belonging to which do not date before 1681 : it was a chapel of ease under
Walton-on-the-Hill, until 1699, when the town of Liverpool was made a distinct
parbh. There was once a statue of St. Nicholas in the churchyard ; regarded
as the tutelar guardian of seamen on proceeding upon their outward-bound
voyages. This church is
seen in its pristine state in
the wood engraving of old
Liverpool; it was rebuilt
in 1774, except the tower,
and stands nearly opposite
St. George's Dock. In
1810, as the congregation
were assembling on a Sun-
day for divine worship, and
about ten minutes before it
usually commenced, the
spire fell through the roof
along the centre aisle of the
church, owing to the ring-
ing of the bells loosening
the stones of the arches on
which it rested. The chil-
dren of the Moorfielda charity were entering at the moment — the girls pre-
ceding the boys ; but the latter all escaped, while of the others, twenty-eight
were buried under the fiJlen mass, twenty-three killed, and five taken to the
122 EITGLAND IX THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
hospital, of which number one died subsequently. The present tower was
soon afterwards erected, so that no trace of the ancient church now remains.
None of the churches of Liverpool have any pretensions to extraordinary
beauty or novelty of design, some being constructed with little regard to purity
or simplicity, others with too much of pretension to what they evidently do
not possess; but the same circumstances are only observable here in common
with the metropolis.
St. Peter's church, built in 1704, ia a plain and inelegant, but solid struc-
ture, having a heavy square tower terminating octagonally with a pinnacle at
each angle : it stands in Church-street, and contains one or two monuments to
individuals of the town ; that to Mr. Cunlific, a merchant of Liverpool, being
marked by expense rather than beauty. St. George's church, built originally
in 1782, has been rebuilt by Mr. Foster, the town architect, in the Doric style,
with tasteful simplicity; though the lower part of the tower, supporting a double
row of columns, is so sufficiently substantial, as almost to border upon heaviness.
St. Thomas's church is a very tastelesa affair : it had originally a fine spire,
but as it would appear that the noisy resonance of bells is almost a port of
orthodoxy in Liverpool, and the ringing made it vibrate, the spire was sacri-
ficed to the bells, and a heavy cupola ensures the safety of as much ringing as
the pullers of the ropes choose to inflict upon the surrounding inhabitants.
St. Paul's was erected in 1769 ; and compared to most of the other churches
in the town, has an impo-
sing appearance and an air
of elegance ; but it pos-
sesses none of the grandeur
which the architect was
solicitous of conferring
upon it, by making it a
copy of St.Paul's, London.
The firog cannot success-
fully compete with the ox
in architecture any more
than in fable. St, Luke
in the Anglo-Gothic, or
pointed style, is exceed-
ingly well wrought out by
Mr. Foster, the corpora-
tion architect, of which
this is a representation.
St, Ann's church, placed
north and south — stark heterodoxy in ecclesiastical architecture — was built in
1770, at the expense of two private gentlemen: the galleries are supported by
cast-iron pillars, said to be the first ever used for a similar purpose. Christ-
church ia a roomy and handsome edifice, built by a private individual, Mr.
LANCASHIRE. IgS
Houghton, endowed by him, and opened for divine -worship in 1800. The
church of St, John was erected at the public expense in 1784. St. Philip's,
St. Ann's, St, Michael's, St. Martin's-in-tbe-Fields, St, JameB, and those of
St. Stephen, St. Matthew, AE Saints, St. Andrew, St, Mark, Christ, Trinity,
St David, St. Catherine, St. Bride, St. Matthias, St. Augustine at Everton,
St. Jude; and the church of the indigent blind, built of stone, a copy of
the temple of Jupiter in Egina, in the early Doric style; St. Peter's, and
a floating church, are the principal places of worship belonging to the Estab-
lishment ; besides which, there are sereral Episcopal chapels.
The Catholics have five chapels ; the Wesleyans nine, the Baptists five, the
Independents nine ; the dissenters in all fifty-nine. We have only enumerated
by name the principal churches belonging to the Establishment, which, includ-
ing chapels, number together thirty-two: and including the places of public
worship considered as attached to Liverpool on the Cheshire shore, the total
number, belonging to all creeds, is 108, of which one is a Jews synagogue.
The dissenting chapel re-
cently erected by the con-
gregation of the Kev. Dr.
Raffles is remarkable for
simplicity of design and
chasteness of ornament.
The Scotch kirk in Rodney-
street is also a pleasing spe-
cimen of Grecian architec-
ture; and the Wesleyan
chapel in Harrington pos-
sesses a fine window of
st^ed glass.
There are in Liverpool
75 Sunday-schools, with
16,000 scholars ; evening
schools, 43, with 548 scho-
lars ; day schools, including _ _ ^_
charity and infant, 648,
having 28,916 scholars. There are thirteen medical charities : twelve provi-
dent, and twenty-three religious. ITiere are fifteen literary institutions, twelve
places of pubUc amusement, and ten prisons.*
In the Com Exchange in Brunswick-street an immense business is trans-
acted. It is the great northern depot for the agricultural produce of Ireland ;
destined to supply the demand of the manufacturing districts. Large quantities
of com are also brought coastwise &om the ports of England and Scotland, so
that the number of ships bringing corn to the port of Liverpool has been said
to average one hundred per week.
■ We copy here from Bultervorlh't Suiittical Sketch.
124 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTII CENTVRY :
The markete of Liverpool are remarkable structures. It was after dark on a
Saturday evening that we entered that of St. John ; a magnificent undertaking,
aixty-nine feet longer than St. Paul's cathedral, and 135 feet wide — in fact an
immense chamber, hghted by 136 windows, occupying two acres of ground;
and supported by 116 iron pUlars; having fifty-eight small shops along the
walls, which have fire-places; 160 provision stalls, stands innumerable, and
the whole lit up by 144 gas-lights, branching out of iron pillars. It was
naturally crowded at the time we visited it j and the vast expanse, the lights,
the buzz of voices, and the medley of people, young and old — here chaffing
and haggling, there storing their purchases — while a river of existence con-
tinually flowed along each avenue, struck us more than anything at all approxi-
mating to it in character that we ever saw. St, John's is a vast brick building ;
but St. Martin's-market is handsomer and better proportioned ; still the im-
posing magnitude of the first is wanting ; for to us there is much more effect
produced upon the mind by an ill-proportioned giant than by an every-day
man. All these magnificent works were designed and completed by the active
and public-Hpiritcd corporation of the town ; which, in these respects has no
equal, even where wealth is equally abounding, of which the metrojioliB
affords a striking example,* St, John's Market is here represented.
There is nothing contributing to aid the main object of a great commercial
population that is not carried into effect in Liverpool } all that wealth can
command being directed to facilitate the acquirement of more wealth; not upon
the principle of hoarding money acquired in every possible manner, as misers
dispose of their riches, but the liberal employment of capital, based on the indis-
putable maxim that money must not be spared to clear the channels by which
■ The houien of Li»erpool sre constructed both of brielt and atone, and some of the streets are very
tpicioui. Lard-ilreet ii » noble avenue, and the ntw towardalhe loon-ball from St. George'>.crescenl
LANCASHIRE.
125
more money is acquired. The moment it was found advantageous, for example,
that intelligence should be conveyed from Holyhead to Liverpool of the
arrival of vessels off the former place, seventy-two miles distant, telegraphs
were established at eleven stations, much more perfect in operation than those
used by government, expressing any number up to 9999 at one signal; and
a question is often asked and a reply made in a minute, the distance being
144 miles; and ordinary communications on reporting vessels occupy only
five minutes. In this spirit it was that the railway with Manchester was
projected and carried into execution, and that the great undertakings in the
way of docks followed one another with such rapidity : it was the stirring of
the great and true principle upon which a successful commerce is based, meeting
in a new and rising port with none of those narrow prejudices and mischievous
predilections that aboimded in the old mode of carrying on trade, but readily
seizing upon every thing new that is beneficial on the demonstration of its
advantage. It is impossible to contemplate without a smile the history of
the ancient trading voyages of the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and the king
who sent his ships to Ophir for gold, so magnified and extolled for ages, upon
turning to a modern town of the growth but of a century, and upon consider-
ing that the habitable globe alone bounds the extent of the voyages which its
vessels xmdertake, with a hundred times less notice than the navigation of an
inland sea excited among the ancients — ^it is impossible to turn to the narra-
tions thus handed down to us, and not to feel that Liverpool must become the
Tyre of modem history. The navy of Carthage, the vessels of the Phoenicians,
and the ships of Solomon together, were not equal in consideration, either from
is a fine perspective. The streets near the river are still narrow, but in other parts are spacious and
well built, and this will apply to all the thoroughfares of recent date.
The number and classification of bouses in the borough, assessed to the poor-rate two or three years
ago, were as follow :—
64
153
628
3.387
3,303
2,795
1,755
2,026
1,056
1,372
2,450
940
at
n
i>
»f
I*
i>
i»
>»
»>
I*
It
»
£3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
£192
612
3.140
20,022
23,121
•22.360
15,795
20,260
11,616
16,464
31,850
13,286
461
761
220
576
351
296
6,132
at
i>
i>
»
tt
»i
above
15
16
17
18
19
20
20
28,685
1,092 Warehouses
3 425 / Breweries, work<
* \ shops, etc.
}
33,202
Total
6,915
12,176
3,740
10,368
6,669
5,920
247,300
471,896
118,616
129,865
£ 720.377
No town in England has received greater improvement during the past half-century than Liverpool.
Before that time the streets were narrow and inconvenient, and the buildings were wholly devoid of
architectural beauty, but the alterations have given to the town a commodiousness and elegance not to
be met with in any other port. This altered condition has been produced by the exertions of the
corporation, in whom is vested the property of a great proportion of the houses. As the leases of
these have progressively fallen in, they have been renewed only on the condition of expending the sums
necessary for the required embellishment.
126 ENGLAND IN THB NINETEENTH CENTURY I
force or burthen, to the array of streamers we saw upon the breeze during one
hoiir in the port of Liverpool. The advantage of Liverpool over Bristol was
mainly attributable to a disregard of long-acquired habits of thinking in traffic,
to a more liberal and generous spirit among the merchants, and to speculations
which were limited only by calculations based upon those dictates of human
prudence that must be generally successful, though still felt not to be beyond
the possibility of solitary failure. When Liverpool flung off the inhuman
traffic in slaves, which the government so long fostered and encouraged, she
came forth like a giant refreshed; as if Justice were grateful for the renuncia-
tion of a traffic so disgracefiil, and at once threw into her docks and ware-
houses, by an activity without parallel, the merchandise and riches of empires.
There is a statue of George III. on horseback, in Roman costume, near
Pembroke-place and the London-road, which is of no great merit on the score
of art, and is the work of Westmacott; its situation is exceedingly well chosen.
There is something ludicrous to those who remember the King's person and
manner in thus dressing him up like Julius Caesar; it almost recals the lines
of Peter Pindar.
A street parallel with Rodney-street, terminating one end in Mount Pleasant
and the other in Duke-street, bears the venerable name of Roscoe. The his-
torian of Lorenzo de Medici is always coupled by foreigners with the town to
which in his lifetime he was so attached. His celebrated collection of Italian
authors, about three hundred volumes, is deposited in the library of the Athe-
nceum, through a trait of character in a well known merchant of Liverpool,
Mr. Rathbone, most honourable to his head and heart; for knowing that Roscoe
regretted the loss of those works more than of any other books he possessed,
he made the purchase of them at the sale of Roscoe's library, and presented
them to his friend. Who would not envy Mr. Rathbone his feelings upon that
occasion ! Roscoe declined the present, unless upon the condition that they
should be afterwards deposited in the Library of the Athenaeum, where they
now remain, in an establishment to form which we believe Roscoe was one
of the chief instruments. No one knew this truly good and learned man but
must have his fine Roman portraiture indelibly impressed upon his memory.
We shall not easily forget the last time we were in his company, four indi-
viduals only being present, among them Ugo Foscolo, the great literary name
of modem Italy; when Roscoe's equanimity of temper and firm bearing con-
trasted well with the fiery temperament of the Italian or Greek, as Foscolo at
times affected to consider himself. Both have now slept for years with their
fathers. Roscoe, born March 8, 1753, died June 80, 1831, and was of humble
parentage, and self-taught; for he would not submit to the mechanical
drudgery of the schoolmaster, even in the limited way in which his parents
could alone afford him the elements of an education, since he possessed a
better key to instruction than the rod of the pedagogue, having acquired the
art of thinking for himself in his earlier years. At sixteen he was employed
LANCASHIRE. 127
in the office of an attorney as an articled clerk, when lie wrote verses, and
contrived to acquire the Latin, French, and Italian languages. On the expira-
tion of his articles he went into partnership with an eminent attorney of
Liverpool, and soon managed the whole business, which obtained a high
reputation. Giving up business with a competency, he entered himself in
1805 at Gray's Inn, intending to go to the bar, and was induced about the same
time to join in a Liverpool banking-house, which iailed and involved him in
its ruins, when he resigned all his property to his creditors, but retained to
the last day of his life the esteem and respect of every rank and degree of
mankind, both in and out of England, for his fame was not confined to his
native shores. Here b the house in which he was bom, yet standing upon
Mount Pleasant, a spot of
ground which must have
been apart from, and have
commanded a fine view of,
Liverpool fourscore years
ago.
Although Roscoe ia the
great literary name of Liver-
pool, it is not the only one
distinguished in a similar
pursuit. Dr. Currie,of that
place, wrote an excellent
life of Bums, the first and
best we have ever read ; and
Dr. Shepherd published a
life of Bracciolini. Stubbs,
the animal painter, connects
Liverpool with the pictorial
art by an excellence which
no one is inclined to dispute ; and Deare, a very promising sculptor, was a
native of the town ; while in mathematics it was an honour to produce so dis-
tinguished an individual as Horrox. "We believe the late Mrs. Hemans was
also a native of Liverpool. The nimibcr and excellence of the literary insti-
tutions of Liverpool prove at least a fondness for the cultivation of the mind
to be prevalent there.
Of the character of the inhabitants it does not become us to speak, firom
wantii^ a sufficient personal knowledge of the subject; but we may form
some opinion of what it may be, from the elegance of the town, from the
liberality of the institutions, the probity of the citizens, and corporate body,
and from the absence in society of the ridiculous exclusiveness exhibited so
much in other places, the ofispring of pride and ignorance. Where commercial
intercourse, personal and by correspondence, is continual with the inhabitants
128 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
of all countries, there must be less prejudice, greater civility, fewer of tlie
pretensions of class, more open and kindly manners, and a more frank and
manly bearing than in places not so happily circumstanced for imbibing the
sterling humanities of life, and for extinguishing the miserable spirit of bigotry
and illiberality in private intercourse. Those who are solicitous for that of
which they cannot estimate the worthlessncss, and are content to exchange
the weighty gold of simple warm manners for the hoUowness of overwrought
refinement, or the servility that chills while paying the compliment it secretly
repudiates, must not, it appears to us, expect to find their social beau ideal in
Liverpool.
The market days in Liverpool are Wednesday and Saturday; but, as in other
large places, merchandise and wares of every sort required by the population
are purchaseable daily in all quarters of the town. Means of water communi-
cation exist, both by canals and rivers as well as on land by railways and roads,
for the conveyance of all kinds of goods at easy and cheap rates. The
exports consist principally of the manufactures of the counties of Lancaster,
Staflbrd, York, Warwick, and Chester ; while the imports are of all kinds, but
principally colonial ; and the coasting trade extends to every part of the United
Kingdom. Small vessels can ascend on the Mersey and Lrwell for thirty-five
miles above Liverpool, by which much agricultural produce is conveyed.
The steam- vessels plying at the different ferries across the Mersey, to the Isle
of Man, to the north of England, Wales, Scotland, and Lreland, are very nume-
rous ; so long ago as 1830, no less than thirty -six sailed to and from Lreland
alone, and the number now must be greatly increased. The limits of the port
are " from the Redstones in Hoylelake at the point of Wirral, southerly, to
the foot of the river called Kibble Water, in a direct line northerly ; and so
upon the south side of that river to Hesketh Bank easterly, and to the rivers
Astland and Douglas there, and so all along the sea-coasts of Meals and Formby
unto the river Mersey, all over the rivers Mersey, Irwell, and Weaver."*
Towards the mouth of the Mersey, from Runcorn downwards, there are
commodious steam ferries, and many individuals whose business is in Liver-
pool reside on the Cheshire shore, passing backwards and forwards continually.
The New ferry, Rockhouse ferry, Birkenhead ferry, Woodside and Seacombe,
are the points in communication more immediately with Liverpool ; Woodside
being the most ancient. North of Seacombe ferry is the magazine where the
vessels inward-bound deposit their gunpowder. Near to the Cheshire shore,
opposite Kirkdale, in the borough of Liverpool, but west of it, is the fort on
Rock point, protecting the entrance of the Mersey. The principal face of the
work is about 200 yards in extent, rising twenty-five feet above the water,
mounting six thirty-two pound guns, with others at the angles which flank the
faces, mounted on towers commanding the fronts respectively. This fort
covers the entrance perfectly, as the channel by which vessels are obliged to
• Liverpool stands in lat. 53^ 22", N. and 2<' 30', W. long.
LANCASHIRE. 129
pase is not more than 900 yards wide, owing to the Burbo Sand, so that they
must come within range of the guns. There are barracks for 100 men within
the fort, which is completely insulated at spring tide. Heavy seas frequently
break against the north-east and north-west faces, but these are defended from
the spray by a
strong course of - •
masonry. Near , , . ,'
the fort stands a '""-' '
fine lighthouse,
exhibiting a re-
volving light of
great intensity.
It is built on the
plan Smeaton
followed at the
Eddystone; the
material being
a very durable
marble from the
Isle of Anglesey, carried up solid for a considerable height, and the stones
dovet^ed into each other, and cemented with puzzolano from the territory
of Naples : the expense, defrayed by the Liverpool corporation, was 27,000/.
We have not before given the reader a representation of the entrance to a
dock basin, and for this purpose introduce to his notice the gates of Duke's
Dock, which, though by no means so large as those belonging to the docks of
a later date in point of erection, are more picturesque, and admit over them a
view of distant scenery. There lies beyond them, including the river, shipping.
and the Cheshire shore for a considerable extent, a prospect of novelty and
interest, situated at no great distance from one of the ferries, and embracing
an extended line of country.
130 ENGLAND IN TITE NINETEENTH CENTI'EY :
From the Lancashire side, north of Liverpool, the fort and lighthouse are
seen to great advantage ; and in fine weather the vessels passing and repassing
present a lively scene of very high interest. Smoking steamers, proceeding
on their courses without regard to the wind ; fishing-boats, busy at their voca-
tion ; vessels, large and small, crossing each other, working in or out, some
apparently making fourteen knots in fifteen hours, while others, finding the
breeze auspicious, spread all their bellying sails to catch its full imptdse : in one,
as Campbell beautifiilly expresses it, waves " the flag that braved a thousand
years the batde and the breeze ;" and in another the ensign of some foreigner
floating peacefully on the gale in the pursuit of a traffic mutually beneficial
through the advantages of a profitable commerce. We could not but feel plea-
sure at such a sight; and hope that, though every empire, and with it all
commercial traffic, must have its cycle, the scenes which are thus so beautifully
displayed might exist to the utmost verge of a prolonged season.
The manufactures carried on in Liverpool are not important; for it is in
the import of raw cotton and its export in a manufactured state, the dealing
with goods in the condition in which they come to hand, rather than the
transformation of the materials firom one state to another, in fact the supplying
all parts of the globe, that the biisiness of Liverpool consists. The pent-up
regular toil of the cotton factory, and the habits of seafaring men, and labourers
in docks and warehouses, would not, it is probable, harmonize with each other;
the independence of lal>our in the open air, where much must depend upon
will — ^and the dependence of the factory, where man is wholly a machine,
would be found to interfere continually, did they coexist together to any extent.
The few goods manufactured in Liverpool are principally subsidiary to the
demands of the merchant for his shipping. There are several sugar refineries,
some small foundries, a good deal of ship-building in wood and iron, a manu-
factory of steam-engines for vessels, and manufactories of anchors, chain
cables, and similar articles, naturally in demand in a large seaport. Of
these the most important, are the establishments for the manufacture of
chain cables, of machinery for steam-engines, locomotive and marine, and
of common anchors.
The links of the chain cables are forged of an oval form; and, while they
are red hot, a stay is introduced, being a broad ended band of cold cast-iron,
to which the sides of the link are drawn close by the hammer ; and, as the
ring contracts in cooling, the stay is held on as firmly as if it formed part of
the substance of the ring. When the chain is complete, it is taken to be
proved ; this is done by extending it in portions upon a very long and narrow
table, and subjecting it to an enormous strain, produced either by leverage or
the wheel and axle. We were informed that few chains are ever perfect when
first wrought, and that generally five or six links must be renewed before the
manufacturer can certify to its perfect security.
Fawcett's engine-manufactory is one of the largest in the kingdom, and we
LANCASHIRE. 131
shall take advantage of a visit to it to describe the outlines of some of the
processes in the manufacture of steam machinery, which has now become a
branch of industry in Lancashire scarcely second in importance to the cotton
manufacture.
All the heavier parts of steam-machinery are made of cast-iron, and hence
their perfection must mainly depend on that of the wooden models from which
their moulds are shaped. In fact, the preparation of models is the most
important and expensive part of the business; and in large establishments
the collections of them are valued at several thousand pounds. The frame-
work of the various machines used in nii11« is rarely susceptible of ornament ;
the great object is to combine lightness with strength, and to occupy as small
a space as possible; the models of these frames have therefore no interest
except for the professional engineer. It is far otherwise with the framework
in which the engines of steam- vessels are set : the engine-room, between the
two cylinders, is altogether formed of cast-iron ; and in general, considerable
taste and fancy are displayed in its decoration. We saw one at Mr. Fawcett's
which, when set up, would form a Gothic chapel in the richest style of florid
architecture; and another, which was modelled from a Grecian temple.
These are cast by piecemeal, but with such accuracy that the joinings cannot
be detected by an unpractised eye.
As motion is communicated from the steam-engine to the machinery by
means of turning shafts, it is necessary, to save the waste of power by friction,
that these shafts should be perfectly true and smooth. It was formerly usual
to give a level surface to iron by using the chisel and file; but this process,
besides being very tedious and expensive, was also deficient in accuracy,
especially when applied to shafts of very considerable length. ITie planing
of iron became therefore a problem which has long exercised the ingenuity
of the best engineers, and it is now generally efifected by an application of
the lathe. There are two ways by which the process may be eflfected: the
plane, which is a piece of the hardest steel, may be made to traverse horizon-
tally over the iron shaft kept revolving beneath it; or the shaft may be
gradually pushed forward under the plane, fixed stationary at the proper
angle, being propelled by a screw, so as to secure its gradual advance, and
also to prevent any change in its true direction. The latter is the plan most
generally adopted, and few mechanical processes are more likely to fill the
mind of a visitor with wonder than to see iron planed apparently with as
much &cility as the softest wood, and throwing off rolls of shaving as lightly
folded as those in the shop of the cabinet-maker. In this way the largest
surfaces are planed with the assistance of a single workman.
The smoothing of shafts, and of similar parts of machinery, is here brought
to the highest perfection, and may be considered a part of the art of turning.
Cannons were at first made of iron hoops or bars, welded or brazed together.
They were afterwards cast hollow, with a cavity as nearly cylindrical as could
132 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
be obtained by castings and then the surface was smoothed by a boring
machine, with steel cutters. In this way it was ahnost impossible to obtain a
true bore ; balls of a smaller size than would otherwise be necessary were used,
occasioning great windage and loss of powder. They are now cast perfectly
solid ; and care is taken, by melting pig-iron of different qualities together,
that the cast-iron should not be too hard to be acted upon by the borer. In
general, the boring-bar is fixed, and the revolving gun exposed to the action
of a steel-cutter constantly impelled towards the gun. The cutters in this
process become highly magnetic, so that the boring-dust is seen adhering, and
hanging from their edges when they are drawn out. When the boring is
completed, the touchhole is drilled.
In the boring of steam cylinders, the steel-cutters revolve, and the cylinder
is fixed. The cylinder is placed horizontally, while the cutters are forced
forward by a steam-engine or water-wheel. The operation is commonly
repeated three times ; and in the finishing process it is thought essential to
keep the machine continually at work from the beginning to the end of the
operation, without any regard to meal-times, or to day and night. Were it
discontinued, the cylinder would lose the heat acquired by the friction, and a
ridge would be formed at the spot where the boring was suspended, which
would be highly injurious to its proportion.
Iron is not only turned and bored with as much ease and accuracy as wood,
but, by means of shears, moved by a lever and wheel worked by steam, it is
cut through as if it were paper. We saw a piece of iron, three-fourths of an
inch thick, so divided at Messrs. Sharp and Roberts's manufactory. The
shock on the person holding the bar is not very great, provided he holds the
bar near the axle of the shears ; but if he applies it near the edge the jerk is
considerable; and is likely, not only to wrest the bar from his hand, but to do
injury to the machine.
In all the establishments for the manu&cture of machines, the contrivances
for the transmission and conversion of motion are multiplied and various, but
it would be impossible to describe them in a popular form. The chief objects
of attraction are the processes of casting, turning, planing, boring, and welding ;
and these in their general featiires do not essentially differ from the applica-
tions of the same operations with which all are familiar. Wonder, in fact, is
excited chiefly by seeing common operations working on materials which might
be supposed fer removed beyond their sphere.
The country round Liverpool abounds in every direction with fine resi-
dences, scattered through the neighbouring parishes. To the southward, at
no great distance, is Childwall, a large parish and vicarage, that includes the
chapelries of Hall, Speke, Garston, Wavertree, Atherton, and Woolton, con-
taining numerous seats and old halls. Childwall Abbey is a house belonging to
the Marquis of Salisbury, who obtained it by marriage with the daughter of
Mr. Bambcr Gascoigne : it is about four miles south-east from Liverpool, and
LANCASHIRE.
133
was built, after a design by Nash, by the brother of the late Geaeral Gaacoigne,
who was member of parliament for Liverpool. The style is Gothic, of that
character which neither antiquity nor taste combine to recommend; it is a
heavy looking
edifice, but the
prospect £:om
the towers, of
which there are
two — one sur-
mounted with a
smaller turret in
the way of the
eagle tower at
CaemftTTon — is
very extensive.
plain stretching
&om Ormskirk
in one direction away to Cheshire in another. This neighbourhood is the
haunt of the Liverpool holiday keepers, and possesses an excellent inn, to which
they resort in considerable numbers. In this parish is Speke Hall, a view of
which, as well as an interior of one of the rooms, is here given; it was built
about 350 years ago, is surrounded by a ditch or moat, and possesses every
trait interesting to the lover of antiquity. Gigantic yews shed their gloom
over an antique
court; the old
hall is decora-
ted with awiun
scot mantel-
piece, said to
have been
brought from
Edinburgh cas-
tle aft«r the vic-
tory at Flodden
Field; and Sir
WilliamNorris
brought here a
part of the
Scotch king's library from Holyrood House. In some of the volumes now
in the Athenseum at Liverpool, it is recorded in the hand-writing of Sir
William himself; "that Edyes Borow wassc wone y' viii'\daye ofMaye, ano
xxxvi" H. VIII. ct aho dni mcccccxuii and y' y" bokc was gotty and
134 ENGLAND IN THE NINETBEKTH CENTTRT :
brought awaye by me Will'm Norres of y* Speike K. thys xi daye of
Maye." On the wainscoting is inscribed, " Sleep not till thou hast well con-
sidered how thou spent the day past: if thou hast done well, thank God for't;
if otherwise, repent." The Norris iamily resided at Speke for many genera-
tions before the time when the battle of Flodden Field was fought, in 1513.
The old carving afibrdB an example of the taste of the age in which it was
done, and is by no means deficient in merit. ITiis ancient house belongs to
Mr. Watt, to whose father it was sold by the son of the late Mr. Topham
Beauclerk ; to whom it descended from the family of Norris.
Wavertree Village, lying on the east of Liverpool upon proceeding by
the Edge-hill load, is distant about two miles. This village contains between
two and three thousand inhabitants; the manor was called Vauretrea at the
Conquest. And here is Wavertree Hall, the residence of Mr. Lawrence;
characterized by somewhat of antiquity in its appearance, and this feeling is
more strongly impressed by the cawing of the numerous rooks that inhabit a
number of huge elm trees contiguous to the mansion.
Hale Hall is a very ancient house; the estate on which it stands belonged
to the Lord of Hale as fej back as the Conquest: it next became the property
of the Columber fanuly, and from them descended to the Hollands, and
thence to the Irelands, with whom it remained until the middle of the last
century, when it came into the possession of the Blackbume family, of Orford
near Warrington, by marriage, and is now the seat of Mr. Blackbume, who
for many years represented Lancashire in parliament. The house is built of
brick, a good deal of it covered with ivy. Upon the tower in front of the
house here seen is the date 1674, and the inscription " built by Sir Gilbert
LANCASHIRE. 135
Ireland and Dame Margaret bis wife." A new &ont hae been added on the
south by Mr. Blackburne, commanding a fine \4ew of the Mersey, three miles
acroEs, and part of Cheshire, with eeveral of the Welch mountains. The
present view represents the oldest front.
In this chapelry was bom, in 1578, the giant called the " Child of Hale,"
named John Middleton, who was possessed of extraordinary strength. He
visited the court of James I,, and a portrait of him is preserved in Brazennose
College, Oxford. Hb hand was seventeen inches from the carpus to the end
of the middle finger, his palm was eight inches and a half, and his height
nine feet three inches! It appears that some Lancashire gentlemen dressed
him " with large ruffs about hia neck and bands, a striped doublet of crimson
and white roimd his waist, a blue girdle embroidered with gold, large white
plush breeches powdered with blue flowers ; green stockings ; broad shoes of
a light colour, having red heels, and tied with laige bows of red ribbon ; and
just below his knees bandages of the same colour, with large bows ; and by
his side a sword, suspended by a broad belt over his shoulder, and embroid-
ered, as his girdle, with blue and gold, with the addition of gold fringe upon
the edge." In such a costume, he must have been a fit match for Gog and
Magog in the London GuUdhall. His amazing size is said to have frightened
away some thieves who came to rob his mother's house.
In Garston chapelry is Aidburgh Hall, once the seat of the Tarleton
family; and in the same chapelry Allerton Hall, the residence of Mr. Roscoe
during one part of his life, but which ceased to be such long before his
decease, owing to the position in which this learned and excellent man
was placed by ad-
verse circumstan-
ces. The house
commands a fine
view over the Mer-
sey at its widest
part, and the high
lands about Bun-
corn. The estate
formerly belonged
to the Lathom
family, of Parbold,
near the town of
Ormskirk, and was ___ ,^ .
sold to an alderman
of Liverpool, from whom Mr. Roscoe purchased it. The connexion with
Allerton HaU of a name so distinguished will always make it remembered, lor
wherever the sons of Genius inhabited, even
186 ENBI-IND IN THE NINETKF.XTII CEXTVRY :
Woolton Hall is a fine mansion, once the property of the Molyneuxs, and
situated in the chapelry known by that name. There is a house called Roby
Hall, near Childwall Abbey, occupied by Mr. Edwards, a merchant of Liver-
pool, said to stand in the place of one very old, which was there previouBly;
and the present mansion was built by Mr. John Williamson of Liverpool, and
was sold not a great while ago to William Leigh, Esq., to whose son it now
belongs. Mr. Boby, author of those amusing and clever volumes, the
" Traditions of Lancashire," is reported to have had an ancestral residence
at this place.
North of the Manchester and Liverpool Railway is the parish of Prescot,
which contains, with the town and township of that name, the toimships of
Ecclcston, Parr, W indie- with-Hardshaw, and St. Helens town. In Windle
township are the remains of a chapel, now called Windleshaw Abbey. Prescot
was made a living by royal charter in 1445, is eight miles from Liverpool
north-eastward, and contains eleven almshouses, which have an income of 17!S/. ;
and A grammar-school, endowed with 159^. ; a town-hall, prison, mechanics'
institution, and several subscription charities. The site of the town is high,
and much coal is raised in its vicinity ; it has manufactories of earthenware,
but is more celebrated for manufactures of small files, watch tools and
movements, carried on also in the surrounding townships. The church here
has a tower which, at no great height above the level of the roof-ridge of the
body of the church — up to that point being Gothic, with a window having
a pointed arch — meets a broad cornice, and is carried with Doric pilasters,
having a semi-gothic win-
dow between them, to the
base of a spire with
a Palladian balustrade at
the top, and urns at the
angles ; then commences
Gothic again in a spire
with small windows. This
^ tower and spire, the most
. extraordinary examples of
r bad taste we ever saw,
were erect«d, the spire in
1799, the body in 1820.
In Prescot was bom John
Philip Kemble, the great-
est actor on the English
stage after Garrick; the
.___^ house in which he first saw
the light is here represented. John Kemble was bom in February, 1757,
the son of the manager of a company of actors who itinerated the country.
s
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m
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w
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i
t
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Fa
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Bos
thai
LANCASHIRE. 13 (
and died-Febniary 26, 1823, at Lausanne, where he is buried. South of the
railway line, bounded by - -».,-^
the Mersey in the opposite
direction, are the townships
of Crouton, Whiston, Bain-
hill, Widness, Appleton,
Bold, Penketh, Great San-
key, and Ditton. A rail-
way from St, Helena to the
Mersey, opposite Runcorn,
passes through several of
these townships. In Wid-
nesa the church, or rather
chapel, of Farnworth,
built before 1438, is dedi-
cated to St. Wilfred; it
possesses some ancient me-
morials J and is here repre-
sented.
Great Sankey church in that township was re-built in 1768, and is a neat
structtire; that of Rainhill was erected in 1838.
The parish of Walton-on-the-Hill, in the Kirkdale division of West
Derby, contains the township of Walton, the church of which is said to be
of Saxon origin, situated three miles north of Liverpool, and West Derby,
Fazakerly, Bootle-with-Linacre, Everton, Kirkdale, Formby, Simonswood,
and Kirkby townships. The church at Walton was rebuilt in 1326, and
in 1742 ; and contains a very ancient font; the parish also includes eleven
chapels ; a market, with a fair, was granted to it in 1212. There are endowed
schools at Walton, Formby, West Derby, and Kirkby. Adjoining West
Derby is the extra-parochial district of Croxteth Park, containing 840 acres,
and Croxteth Hall, a seat of Lord Seilon. East of Croxteth is Knowsley
Hall and Park, in the chapelry of Huyton, in which also is the district of
Roby: Knowsley is a seat of the Earl of Derby, erected of brick at different
periods, and of great size, though an heterogeneous mixture of architectural
stylos. The park is extensive and well wooded, but the trees exhibit the
effect of the prevalent winds, many of them sloping to the north east. The
more ancient part of the house is Gothic, and once had round towers, said
to have been built by the first Earl of Derby for the reception of Henry
VIL, but according to other accounts only repaired by the first Earl for
that purpose. Henry, who owed so much to the Earl's politic conduct at
Bosworth Field, and in gratitude for his services beheaded his brother Sir
William Stanley, under the pretext that he was concerned in the conspiracy
that caused the rebellion of Ferkin Warbeck, although the sordid tyrant
138 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
knew that Sir WiUiam had two years before raised 8000 men at his own
private expense, and greatly contributed to place the crown upon his head.
Sir William was one of the richest men in England ; and the king, in his »
riding passion, which Wiis avarice, lusted after the possession of his wealth, and
as the means of obtaining it, beheaded the brother of his mother's husband,
his own chamberlain, wholly unsuspicious of offence, and actually pattered
with a traitor named Clifford to procure evidence against him, hypocritically
affected to believe the evidence untrue, pretended to scruples he did not feel,
and then impatient of longer delaying the possession of the property of an *
innocent man, to whom he in a great measure owed his crown, put him to
death. Hume, ever the apologist of despotic power, while he admits the
desire of Henry to seize Stanley's property, says that the only thing ever
rcsembliog proof brought against Stanley, in the ferce denominated a state
trial of those times, was, that he said, if "Warbeck was really the son of
Prince Edward, he would not bear arms against him; although the unfor-
timate man had been long surroimded by the king's spies, who were endea-
vouring to entrap him — ^without one shadow of other proof, and with these
admissions, Hume insinuates that it was probable Stanley was a traitor, and
had assisted Warbeck with money, " as some assert ! " After this murder of
Stanley by Henry, he paid a visit in the following year to his father-in-law,
grieving, report says, that the truth about Stanley had come too late!
This visit, according to some, was accompanied with the following incident.
When the king had gone over the house at Lathom, his host conducted him to
the leads to see the prospect, and the Earl's jester was present; who, observing
the king near the verge of the roof, which was unprovided with a railing or
parapet, went up to his master, and directing his attention to the fact, said,
" Tbwi, remember WilV^* The king heard the words, hastened down, and
speedily left his father-in-law's residence. The jester afterwards seemed
concerned that the opportunity was omitted of thus punishing the despot — ^a
punishment which would have been well merited; and this was not the only
lesson of royal gratitude for almost unparalleled devotion that the Stanley
family were destined to learn. When the front of Knowsley was re-erected
by the Earl of Derby, who died in 1735 ; to which house this nobleman
made great additions, though not in very good taste, as he bidlt an Ionic and
Doric front, with coupled columns, attached to an edifice partially in the old
Gothic. He had engraved upon the front the following inscription, comme-
morative of the treatment the family had received from Charles II. Besides
the destruction and loss of property, in the gallant defence of Lathom by the
lady of James Earl of Derby in behalf of Charles I., when his son invaded
England to try and obtain the throne by arms, the gallant Earl risked his life ,
and joined Charles, certain to be pimished as a traitor if taken in a contest
that was virtually a rebellion against the established government, had the
* Kennett's MS.
A
>
%
LANCASHIRE. I3\i
Earl not been before obnoxious to the ruling powers ; and ailer the battle of
Worcester, being made prisoner, was ultimately beheaded at Bolton. When
the Restoration occurred, both houses of Parliament agreed to restore the Earl
of Derby's property to his family; for even those who might not have liked
the cause, admired the single -hcaitedness and devotion of the man who had
sealed his principles with hia blood; but Charles II, refused to sanction the
return of the Derby property, perhaps to favour some courtezan intrigue.
" James Earl of Derby, Lord of Man and the Isles, grandson of James Earl
of Derby, by Charlotte, daughter of Claude Duke of Tremouille, was be-
headed at Bolton, the 18th of October 1651, for strenuously adhering to King
Charles II., who refused a bill unanimously passed by both houses of Parlia-
ment for restoring to the family the estates which he had lost by his loyalty
to him." Such is the inscription to which we made allusion above. Mr.
Pennant, in his zeal for the deservedly outcast Stuart race, has declared the
inscription "calumniating;" though it would be difficult to prove truth in
this or any other case to be calumny.
There are paintings here of members of the Stanley family, and among
them a portrait of Thomas Lord Stanley, whose conduct at the field of
Bosworth decided the fate of the day, and obtained for him the earldom
which the family now possesses; he died in 1504. He is represented dressed
in black, with a bonnet and a ruff, holding a white wand. The portraits of
the mother of Henry VII., and of the third Earl of Derby, renowned for his
hospitality, who kept 220 individuals in his pay, and fed threescore daily,
besides Jl comers three times a week, and every Good Friday 2200, " with
meat, diink, money, and money's worth;" and the portrait of James Earl of
Derby who was beheaded at Bolton, and of his heroic lady, are all here.
There are many
interesting his-
torical portraits
besides in this
princely man-
sion, and some
good pictures by
the Italian mas-
ters. Annexed
is a represen-
tation of one
of the fronts
of Knowsley
Hall.
Knowsley possesses a collection of ilemish pictures, that were purchased
by James Earl of Derby, who sent Mr. Winstanly, an artist, abroad for the
purpose of collecting them, about the commencement of the last century.
140 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
Returning into Liverpool, and passing out through the village of Kirk-
dale, we proceeded along a paved road — ^for all the roads here are paved with
small stones for miles together, and cause the most disagreeable jolting in a
carriage, and to the pedestrian a sensation in the feet by no means agreeable
— ^we soon reached the village of Walton, with its church and new tower,
having a pleasant view of the country on the right-hand side, stretching fer
away, well wooded, and relieved by many abodes of mercantile opulence.
As we proceeded, the right-hand side of the road increased in interest, imtil
we reached the turnpike-gate on the road to Ormskirk, where some distant
scenery burst upon the view; and objects on the left of the road, which before
were of little interest, began to mend in some degree, and add to an agreeable
though far from striking view of the countiy. Rivington-Pike, near Chorley,
was distinctly visible, and the country about the shallow valley and chapelry
of Fazakerly, with Knowslcy Hall, the latter embosomed in dense woods. At
length we came to the race-ground, between four and five miles from Liver-
pool, where a commodious inn is situated, called the Sefton Arms, close to
the ground. The stand was built in 1829, and is a handsome structure,
apparently well adapted for its object, four stories high, and capable of con-
taining a great many spectators, for the leads will hold above two thousand,
and must aSbrd a very extensive prospect; the coiu'se is a mile and a half
round, railed the whole distance. Six thousand persons are accommodated in
the interior stands; and we were informed that 20,000/. had been expended
upon the course and buildings, which are in the parish of Aintree.
Farther upon the left, is Sephton, or Sefton church, " bosomed in
tufted trees," on the border of some fine meadow land. This parish contains
the townships of Aintree on the right of the road at about the sixth milestone.
Great and Little Crosby close to the sea shore, Litherland, Orrel and Ford,
Thornton, Ince Blundell, Netherton, and Lunt, all of which lie on the left of
the Liverpool road to Ormskirk, except Aintree. Ince Blundell church,
erected in 1111, was rebuilt 1520, and is a very handsome edifice, containing
monuments of the Molyneux and Blundell families. There are three episcopal
and four catholic chapels in the parish of Sefl»n; much of the land in which is
marsh, yet it lets for sixty shillings an acre. In Great Crosby there are two
endowed schools; one for grammar, and one for girls; this parish is visited
as a bathing place. Sefton itself is seven miles north from Liverpool, and is
both a parish and manor, once belonging to the Molyneux family by in-
heritance from William de Moulin, an ancestor. The church is large and
handsome, consisting of a nave, two aisles, and a tower with a steeple, owing
its erection to Anthony Molyneux, a rector here about the time of Henry
VIIL This church is separated from the nave by a screen, and contains
sixteen stalls, remarkably well executed in carved work, and ornamented with
grotesque figures ; and there is a fine carved canopy remaining over the pulpit,
the workmanship of which is exceedingly beautifid, though much injured by
time. Many of the Molyneux family are interred in this church, which con-
tains a niunber of fine monuments erected to different members of the family.
The following is a faithiiil representation of a part of the interior of this edifice.
There are two figuies of knights templars here, cross-legged, with
triangular shields; and there is an altar tomb to the memory of Sir Richard
Molyneux and his wife, who died in 1439: Sir Richard was a distinguished
combatant at the battle of Agincourt, where he was knighted by Henry V.
Sir WilUam Molyneux, who distinguished himself at Flodden Field, with his
two wives, also lies interred here; he died in 1548; and here, on brass plates,
are recorded the deaths of his son, his two wives, aud their children. There
is some painted glass yet remaining, inscribed to members of the family.*
• The
oid«t of
ll.e« mc
>eui and Joan
na hi< wife.
Tli« two I
Its ot the linigliU templan eil.iliit them in clmin armour ;
by their ,
■rm<
>ri.t shields
(her ..e
meinbcri of the i
II a
'tK. died in
1568. »l
libili hin
a pticcd
between Uii iwo wi>es ( li> (he fir«t oT whom hi
B had fi»
■on
. and eight
diughters, and 1>y
the second, li<e wi» and one daughter, who >re all ra
nged in o
rdcr
near their
mothers.
. Tliis 1
.omh ha> the Tulluwing insciipiion : —
Dame Worthope was mj guide in life,
And did mf doings guide ;
Dame Werlue ktl me not alone.
When loule from bodye hyed.
And Ihoughe that deathe wllb dime of darte
Halb brought my corpi on sleepe,
The elernall God, my elernall soule.
Eternally doetlie keepe.
143 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
Melling and Maghull, on the right of the road, are townships, together
with Lj-diate and Down Holland, in the parish of Halsal!, the i-illago of which
lies three miles west of Orniskirk. The chnrch of Ilalsall is a rich living, in
the gift of the Blundell family, dedicated to St. Cuthbcrt, erected in 1424,
and containing
some effigies
and oaken
stalls. At Ly-
diate are the
picturesque
ruins of a
chapel built in
1520, and lo-
cally denomi-
nated the Ab-
bey, of which
the engraving
will give a cor-
rect idea. It
was erected by
one of the Ire-
land family in
the time of Henry VIII, This ruin is richly clothed with ivy, the area is
overgrown with brambles, and the long rank grass bends in wild luxuriance
upon gravestones which time has rendered illegible, although it was used
as a burying-placc down to the early part of the last century : — thus
Bordering upon Halsall is the obscure parish of Altcar, situated among
marshes. The church was erected in 1746, and exhibits nothing worthy of
remark, while the parishioners in this miasmatic district are wholly occupied
in agricultural pursuits. ITiere is one school and two charities here, and in
Halsall there are three endowed schools ; which parish is fiuther remarkable
for its extent of peat mosses.
Aughton is a parish situated about two miles from Ormskirk, divided into
Aughton and XJplitherland. The church, built of stone, in the sixteenth
century, stands near the road, and the roof, adorned with old carved work,
is decorated with a spire ; upon Aughton Common there are remnants of
considerable entrenchments. The road, which all the way from Liverpool
had been flat, and only occasionally possessed of interest, here begun to ascend,
in fact the entire parish of Aughton stands upon ground higher than that to
to the southward. At the distance from Ormskirk of about two miles, the
LANCASHIRE. 143
western side of the road here and there eithibited a good many trees, and
looked better all the way as it trended to the eastward, or in a direction further
from the sea. Along the coast, the flat shore terminates in a line of sand*
hills, dreary and monotonous beyond idea, but they do not spread so far inland
as they would otherwise do, from the care taken to plant rushes, and to preserve
them from being cut. Some of the sandhills here are large, measuring half
a mile at the base, the openings between them looking miserably desolate;
and just within these hills, which afford some little shelter in their vicinity,
moss or peat land commences. Trees are rarely seen singly ; and when
grouped, are shorn on one side by the keen western blast; large quantities of
timber have notwithstanding been dug up in the peat mosses, and oaks are
found embedded just below the sur&ce, with their heads lying in one direction,
the whole district abounding with them. It would appear as if the sea had
once covered the land here, and that afterwards the land had gained upon the
sea. A less interesting line of coast we never saw; while the sea, from its
shallowness to a great distance from the shore, exhibits few of its customary
attractions.
We entered Ormskirk, thirteen miles from Liverpool, a little after noon,
and found it to consist of one principal street, from which the main thoroughfares
branch off somewhat like the last letter but one of the alphabet; while there
is a foiirth small street, joining one of the other three near the termination. It
is a parish, township, and market town, in a district considered particularly
healthy, and contains be-
sides its own township those
of Lathom, Scarisbrick,
Burscough, Bickerstaffe , and
Skelmcrsdale, The church
was greatly repairedin 1729 ;
it stands on the site of an-
other that existed before the
Conquest. The square tower,
bold, broad, and massy, pro-
bably remained from the an-
cient edifice, for it is much
timewom, and carries marks
of considerable antiquity.
The tower and spire, it will
be seen, stand separate, if
the lower part of what most
people would call a spire — -. .-,r„.^
can be deemed a tower. Still, whenever erected, no satisfactory statement
can be given to justify the above monstrosity in architecture.
" Who built this odd-looking church ? " we asked a decent-looking farmer-
like individual who was reading the tombstones.
144 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
" That's more en I naw ; connaw zay, nor no mon elze I spoze."
" You do not know much more about the matter than I do, I perceive, friend ;
you are not of this part of the county ?"
" Naw, Ize be fro' o'er Morcom zands."
This was no satisfactory answer ; and directing our steps to a second and
more intelligent person, we were informed that two maiden ladies repaired or
reconstructed the church in the present grotesque manner, because they coidd
not agree about connecting the towers together. Some of the windows have
circular arches and the window-frames terminate in Gothic points, evidently
of recent date, while over each is a narrow rim, sculptured with angels and
cupids ; from which execrable taste we suspect that the steeple was placed as it
stands, under the idea that it was a happy thought, " a grace beyond the
reach of art." There is a burial vault in this church in a chapel belonging to
the Derby family, built after the dissolution of Burscough Priory; some of
the monuments of the Stanleys, first erected at Burscough, are said to have
been brought here ; and there are effigies of ladies, supposed to be of that
house. This church is dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul; the chapel of the
Stanleys is on the south-east part. There is much modem work in the way
of repair mixed up with the old, in architectural confusion ; here an old Saxon
door, and there a pointed or a modem round arch. The bells weie brought
from Burscough Priory, being divided between this church and Crouton. The
spire has been several times rebuilt. There are many dilapidated monuments ;
and near the stairs of the pulpit is a memorial to Mr. Ashton of Panketh,
who died in 1707, and was six feet seven inches in height; and besides the
effigies of the ladies already alluded to in the Stanley chapel, there is the
figure of a knight recumbent, half destroyed by time. Here lies too the
heroic Charlotte de Tremouille and her brave and headless husband. There
is a free grammar school in Ormskirk, and an English one established by the
Earl of Derby, together with several charitable benefactions; a town-hall,
market, and court-house, are among the other public buildings.
The township of Bickerstaffe in this parish contains nothing worthy of
remark, and is entirely agricultural; the same may be said of Skelmersdale
and Scarisbrick. Lathom also, in Ormskirk parish, was the source of great
disappointment to us. We went to the spot of which we had read an account
with the hope of seeing some traces of the house distinguished for the defence
made by the Countess of Derby, Charlotte de Tremouille, on behalf of the
Stuarts, for which the Stanleys were so right royally requited; we expected to
find some fragment upon which to connect an association with female heroism,
but we were never more disappointed in any day-dream of our lives. The
site of Lathom House, once the seat of the ancient family of that name, who
possessed it before the Stanleys, stood on an uninteresting, extensive flat,
upon which there is now a modern house with wings connected by a colonnade,
erected by Sir Thomas Boothe, who obtained the land by purchase, about the
LANCASHIRE. 145
year 1724, the very antithesis of the picturesque or antique, than which we had
rather have met with one fragment of the old building, one solitary turret, that
might have cemented in some degree the present and the past. One tower
did stand until 1714, when Lathom passed by marriage to those who seem to
have had no feeling for its celebrity, and no value for ground hallowed by
proud recollections of female spirit. We speak not here of the side espoused
by the defenders of Lathom, it is enough that the sincerity of the actors in the
deed performed was not to be impugned. It was in 1644 that Sir Thomas
Fairfax, on the part of the people of England, summoned Lathom, the seat
of the Earl of Derby, the Countess alone being at home. She demanded a week
to consider, wondering " Sir Thomas Fairfax should require her to give up
her lord's house in his absence," and she employed that time in strengthening
the defences, continuing to parley, and rejecting ultimately all the conditions
tendered. Fairfax at last insisted that the house should be evacuated by ten
o'clock the next morning, and a flat refusal was the result; the Countess
declaring that though " a woman and a stranger, divorced from her friends
and robbed of her estate, she was ready to receive their utmost violence,
trusting in God for protection and deliverance." The siege endured from the
commencement of March to the twenty-third of May without success; the
besieged making effective sallies, and the besiegers displaying a want of skill
in the use of their artillery which seems unaccountable. Fairfax had left the
conduct of the siege to Colonel Kigby, and, on sending in a summons to the
Countess, she ordered the messenger to her presence, and told him he deserved
to be hanged up at the gate. *' Carry," said she, *' this answer back to Rigby
(tearing the paper), and teU that insolent rebel, he shall have neither persons,
goods, nor house. When our strength and provisions are spent, we shall find
a fire more merciful than Rigby; and then, if the providence of God prevent
it not, my goods and houjse shall bum in his sight; and myself, children, and
soldiers, rather than fall into his hands will seal our religion and loyalty in the
same flames." The last summons was sent to this heroic woman on the twenty-
third of May, after nearly three months of alarm and danger. She replied,
*' the mercies of the wicked are cruel," and that unless they treated with her
lord, *' they should never take her, nor any of her friends alive." Prince
Rupert raised the siege soon afterwards, and the Countess with her family
withdrew to the Isle of Man. The house was taken in the following year by
General Egerton, and its defences ruined. It stood upon a mossy flat, sur-
rounded by a wall six feet thick, having nine towers, and in each tower six
cannons ; and there was a high tower called " the eagle tower" in the centre.
The gatehouse was strong and high, upon all the towers were placed the
best marksmen of the Earl, with their fowling-pieces, taking off* the officers;
the besiegers were unable to make any impression upon the walls; and it is
said they suflfered severely. A good deal of the township of Lathom still
belongs to the Stanleys, the residence of some of that family having been once
u
146 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY I
at Cross Hall. Blythe Hall, in Ormskirk township, is the residence of Mr.
Bootle Wilbraham, whose father. Lord Skelmersdale, resides at Lathom.
The north-west end of the town of Ormskirk commands an extensive
prospect over a level fertile country. The principal manufactories are for cotton
weaving, silk winding, and hat making. The best potatoes and carrots in
Lancashire are said to be grown here, and we can vouch for the fabrication of
the best gingerbread, for scarcely had we alighted at the Talbot inn, when we
were offered by half-a-dozen fair hands together, little packets of gingerbread,
in the way of purchase. " Buy my fine Ormskirk gingerbread — the best is
made here," was an appeal impossible to be resisted; and we, in confessing its
excellence afterwards at Preston, were told that it was a confection of far-
spread notoriety. Some of the females who offered it too, came nearer the
idea we had formed of Lancashire witches, from their witchery, than any of
the sex we had before seen north of the Mersey, rather than their positive
beauty. The Lancasterians may contend with the Yorkists for crowns and
be victors, but must submit to be rivalled by them in the question of the Roses.
Burscough Township is chiefly noted for a priory of black canons of that
name, which stood there on the foundation of the Earls of Derby. It was
dilapidated by Henry VIIL with the other religious houses, for the sake of
its revenues ; but the Prior was fortunate enough to secure a pension, which
refutes the story of the king's having dissolved the house because its Prior
was declared to be incontinent — ^the crime charged on almost all the heads of
houses to disguise the real object: that unprincipled despot would have been
glad of such a plea against the Prior, to refuse him a provision afterwards, had
it been sustainable. The revenues were 129/. Is, lOd.y and the establishment
had existed for three hundred and fifty years. Previous to the dissolution,
the ancestry of the Derby family had made Burscough their burying-place,
but they, as well as the brotherhood of Burscough, slept too soundly to be
disturbed by the pickaxe of the royal plunderer, as the fragments of walls
and monuments fell from the position of ages upon their unconscious ashes.
It was evening when we walked from Ormskirk to Burscough, along
the road that leads towards Preston, paved with round stones, the ground
being too spongy, from its ancient moorland character, to sustain heavy car-
riages and remain in a tolerable state of repair. We thought of the "Pilgrims
and the Peas " just after we left Ormskirk, looking in vain for a smooth track
of mother earth, if only six inches wide, as a relief to feet defended with some-
thing much more susceptible of the inconvenience than a Lancashire sabot.
The weather was calm and autumnal almost to sadness; the foliage ''in the
sear and yellow leaf;" the shadows projected fax into the road, and the sun
was near the horizon; in short it was an evening formed for a visit where
'' Euin, ruthless king," mocked man and his monuments. At less than two
miles from Ormskirk we discovered all that was left of the Priory, stand-
ing in a very agreeable seclusion, not far from a little stream of water, and
LANCASHIRE. 147
observed the grass growing as verdandy, and sheep feeding as undisturbedly
upon what had been hallowed ground, as they did upon the vulgar surface
elsewhere ; upon ground hallowed for 350 years before the reign of the
" Defender of the Faith," by generation after generation of voices raised in
worship to the skies. There too had been chanted for an equal time, in behalf
of the long train of departed lords of that soil, as they were deposited in suc-
cession in the last resting-place of their fathers, the solemn soul-thrilling hymn
for the departed used by the Catholics, of which Sir Walter Scott was so fond*
From the time of Bichard Ca;ur de Lion to the reign of Henry VIII,
had those sounds been heard, incense ascended, and the pomp of the Catholic
worship been displayed here ; and of all this circumstance and locality, we found
remainii^ but two mouldering fragments of walls, left like sepulchral stones
in seclusion and solitude, to tell a tale of departed men and things! they were
but a few feet high, and they cast a shadow in the evening sun, diminutive
and weak indeed to the mass of gloom and grandeur once flung down by
tower and pinnacle, pointed arch and solid buttress. These remains are so
slight as not to be worth a visit for themselveB, but mighty for recalling those
undying recollections of the past that cling to the heart and intertwine in
every fibre of being.
The parish of Ruflbrd lies to
the northward of Ormskirk, bounded
on the west by that of North Meols,
while the river Douglas limits it on
the east; the whole, witli the exception
of some church property, belonging
to Sir Thomas Hesketh of Rufford
Hall. The church, once a chapel,
is an ancient building, containing
several monuments of the Heskeths,
The improvements of late years in
draining land have reduced to com-
paratively narrow boundaries the
existence of the agues and intermit-
tents with which, from the marshy
nature of the soil, this parish was
once much afBicted.
Rufford Old Hall, a remnant of
Elizabethan arcliitecture, built of
wood filled in with brick and plas-
tered, is a very picturesque object;
the rooms arc paneled and ornamented with wood carving : it is the residence
148 ENGLAND IS THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
of Mr. Thomas Henry Iloeketh. The New Hall, occupied by Sir Thomas the
fiither, was built ia 1708, and has nothing remarkable in its appearance; the
entrance is by a portico of four Ionic columns. There is another fine old
hotise in this parish, called Holmeswood House, occupied by a former. This
flat country consists for the most part of drained mosses covered with vegetable
loam, beneath which lie large trees, many seeming as if they had been
burned, all as if they had been torn up by the roots, and laid across
each other iu every direction. North of Eufford is Tarletoo parish, which
contains no object worthy of notice. Hesketh and Becconsall parish lie nordi-
west of Tarleton, bounded itself north-west by the Kibble river, which at
high water is lidl three miles across, but fordable when the tide is out. The
parish church is best known as Becconsall Chapel. Fleetwood, recorder of
London in 1560, was bom in this parish; he published " Ducatus Lancastrea,"
and several law works. North Meols is a village by the sea side, and a parish
nine miles north-west from Ormskirk, and south of Hesketh and Becconsall,
containing a division called Birkdale. The church, built in 1571, is small,
dedicated to St. Cuthbert, and possesses memorials of the Hesketh and Fleet-
wood families. That the sea covered this part of Lancashire formerly is evident, ..
as layers of shells are found only four or five feet beneath the surface in
digging the graves in the churchyard. Meols Hall, a fine old building here, is
tenanted by a farmer. Two miles from North &Ieols is Southport, a bathing
place, nearly opposite to Lytham, on the northern bank of the Kibble.
ITiis town, now a fashionable bathing-place among the Lancastrians, is
situated amid dreary sand-hanks, having no recommendation from nature
beyond a pure sea air. The houses have increased from 88 in 1809, to 350,
and the population to about 1000, Birkdale is the southern division of North
Meols, the coast of which is covered with sand-hills, and contains a part of
Mcrton, vulgarly " Martin Meer," once an extensive morass passing into five
or six neighbouring parishes. In Leland's time, it was four miles long and
two broad, and emptied itself into the sea. About 169S, Mr. Fleetwood of
Bank Hall commenced draining this meer by a sluice shutting and opening
with the tide, and died with the idea that he had completed the work. When
the water was drained oflf,
eight canoes were found,
scooped out of the trunks
of trees in the same mode ^
as they are made among
the Indians of the Pacific at
this day, one of them had
plates of iron fixed upon it,
and all were anterior perhaps to the wicker boats covered with skins, found
to be used by the natives of these islands upon their invasion by the Romans.
■\Ve have given a sketch of one of these rude barks, constructed when the
t ^ V y^ ""v ':-
T--'tr-. ■s.*^
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LANCASHIRE. 149
war-ship of a hundred guns, made by the descendants of the same natives,
coidd not have been imaged in the wildest dream of those who fabricated
such rude craft. The connexion between the two occupying a space of 1800
years of progressive art, co-extensive with the march from barbarism to
civilization — from naked painted bodies, or raw sheepskin clothing, to robes of
cotton and satin, Indian muslins and Cashmere shawls.
In 1766 the Meer was again inundated by a very high tide, owing to the
insufficiency of the sluice gates, and Mr. Eccleston, of Scarisbrick, made a
second attempt to drain it and succeeded, until 1789, when a partial inunda-
tion happened from a breach in the banks of the river Douglas, but extensive
injury was prevented by the action of some stopgates, which had been provi-
dentially set up to guard against such an accident. In 1813 the sea gates
were swept away, and the stopgates again saved the land. Since that year
a great deal has been effectually done for a portion of the Meer, which is
become good land. The landowners were not for a long time able to agree
so as to undertake the task themselves, or to accept the terms of others, who
offered to undertake the task upon having the land granted to them for a
term of years.
Returning to Ormskirk, and passing by Skelmersdale, leaving Dalton, a
township of Wigan, upon the left of our route, in which the principal building
is Ashhurst HaU, with an ancient gateway, now held by a farmer, we reached
Upholland, another township in Wigan parish ; one of the most old-fashioned
looking places, with breakneck streets, down which we were ever driven. It
stands on the side of a steep hill, which the streets descend, and where the
carriage road zigzags in no manner agreeable. Upholland is thought to have
been once the seat of a Saxon chief; and some antiquities, believed to be
Roman, particularly the figure of an idol, have been found here. In the reign
of Edward I. it was held of Edmund Earl of Lancaster, and the EarPs suc-
cessor gave it to Sir Robert de Holland, who endowed a chapel here, dedicated
to St. Thomas, afterwards changed into a priory of Benedictine monks.
Passing from the Hollands to the Lovells, by whom being forfeited, it came
to the Earl of Derby; it was sold by the daughter of the ninth earl of that
name to the Ashurst family, and subsequently purchased by Sir Thomas Bootle.
Leland speaks of the Priory as one of " Blake Monkes, a two miles from
Wigan. The Wottons were founders there." The Hollands were a family
marked out by misfortune: the last of the race, during the first depositions of
Henry VI., became a ftigitive in Flanders, though just before he was possessed
of great power; and is said to have been seen running barefooted to ask
alms in a foreign land. He fought for his master at the battle of Bamet,
became dependent upon a servant for subsistence, and at last was picked up
a corpse floating in the sea off Dover. The present ruins of the Priory
consist of ivied walls, in which some of the stone-work of the windows yet
remains shrouded in the richest green. Here and there around, in many places.
150 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
are to be traced foundations, with fragments of arches. The church or chapel,
which is extra-parochial, is a fine old building, having a solid tower, over
which the ivy creeps, and renders it a highly picturesque object. One of the
windows is a beautiful specimen of skill and taste, most ingeniously designed,
and filled with painted glass put together in confusion, it is probable, from
all parts of the Priory; the windows are all more or less adorned with this
material, and some of the colours are exceedingly rich. The interior exhibits
a nave, side aisles, and chancel; and before it was deteriorated by modern
additions, must have had a very striking effect, from the loftiness and massive
construction of the different parts.
A little north of Upholland is the township of Orrel, lying on the Douglas
river, which rises near Wigan, and falls into the estuary of the Ribble. There
are extensive coal mines in this parish, which contains a mansion of Elizabeth's
time, called Orrel Hall, used as a farmhouse; and a nunnery of forty-two
French ladies, who, flying to England during the Revolution, first settled in
Yorkshire, and then removed to Orrel. Pemberton is another township near
Wigan, very populous; to the marvel of our forefathers it contained a well,
the site of which is now unknown, like that at Hindley, near Hindley
Hall, renowned for taking fire upon a lighted candle being brought in
contact with the surface. As there are at present one or two places whence
carburetted hydrogen issues from the ground, which will take fire in the same
manner, the phenomenon was, in all probability, precisely similar in origin.
Winstanley, a district lying south-west of Wigan, and rich in coal mines, has
on its border the township of BiUinge, composed of two hamlets, and possess*
ing, from the top of an eminence called Billinge chapel, a prospect extending
over sixteen counties, serving too as a landmark for shipping. South-east of
this township lie those of Ashton in Makerfield, andHaydock; the latter call-
ing for no particular notice, other than that it was partly the property of the
unfortunate family of Holland. Ashton in Makerfield is the largest township
in Winwick parish, and this whole township once belonged to the Bryns of
Bryn Hall, from whence it came to the present Sir John Gerard, whose family
is one of the oldest in England, llie hall is said to have been a fine old place
of residence, and is connected with the persecution of a Roman Catholic
priest, and his execution by hanging, drawing and quartering, as late as the
reign of Charles I. in 1628.* He was executed on the charge of crediting the
* Mr. Roby, in bis Traditions of Lancashire, professing to give the fact upon which he founded one
of his tales, accuses the unfortunate priest of rape, and states that he was executed for that crime in
the reign of William III. That gentleman says — "not less devoid of truth is the tradition that
Arrowsmith was hanged for makirig a good confession. Having been found guilty of a rape, in all
probability this story of his martyrdom and miraculous attestation to the truth of the cause For which
he suffered, were contrived for the purpose of preventing the scandal that might come upon the church
through the delinquency of an unworthy member." All this Mr. Roby gives as from himself, and
mentions a curse pronounced by Father Arrowsmith upon the under-sheriff, who executed him, in the
reign of William III. Now Arrowsmith was hung^ under sanction of an atrocious law, for no other
LANCASHIRE. 161
faith of his forefathers, and of prevailing upon others to give credit to the
same belief. The hand of the Father Arrowsmith thus executed, for that was
his name, was believed by the vxilgar in Lancashire to be as capable of working
cures as the royal touch, and is said to have been applied to that superstitious
purpose at a later period; and truly if any miserable fragment of mutilated
humanity were capable of performing such absurdities upon the groimd of
perfect freedom from stain, in the sight of heaven, for what a flagitious act of
legislation had constituted a crime, it would be that of one judicially assassi-
nated for his conscientious belief in his own creed — a creed too which had been
that of his country for more than a thousand preceding years. We were spared,
owing to a want of room in another part of this work,* from giving the revolt-
ing details of a similar case, involving the fate of a man of consideration in
the days of Queen Elizabeth, whose fortime was the marked prey of rapacious
courtiers, — ^when we too truly observed that the only difference between the
parties of those times was, that one of them burned and the other only hung
their victims.
We entered the town of Wigan on a market-day, when the weather was
warm and the hue of the houses anything but cheerful, the coal smoke being
amply seconded in dinginess by the pavement covered thickly with dark dust
which the feet of the crowd of passengers kept continually in motion.
Although a place of considerable antiquity, and remarkable, more particu-
larly, as the arena of several contests during the wars between the Stuarts and
the people. Wigan is now chiefly known as a seat of peaceful manufacture,
both of cotton and metals, being situated among coal mines. The neighbour-
hood is noted for producing the species well known as Cannal or Ganhal coal,
which may be turned in a lathe, and gives out a bright light when burning ;
it is found in beds about three feet thick, deep in the earth, compared with
other kinds of the same mineral.
The parish of Wigan, ten miles long and six broad, once afforded a
singular proof of the abuses of the old times in the administration of the law
when committing temporal authority to spiritual men. The rector being lord
of the manor of Wigan, was cited to the assizes for acts committed in the latter
character, which he had carried beyond all bounds of justice, and it would
appear of common decency, in matters of that nature, even in those days.
reason but because he had taken orders as a Catholic priest, and had endeavoured to prevail upon others
to be of hb own faith. For this ofTence, and for this offence alone, in 1628, in the reign, not of
William III., but of Charles I., was he tried at Lancaster assizes, and hanged, drawn and quartered,
in the same year that Edmund A.shton, Esq. was sheriff. Mr. Roby might have seen what was the
real state of the case in the same History of Lancashire as that which he repeatedly quotes. It is no
unfounded charge against modern novel writing that it tends to invalidate the truths of history. Those
who read books superficially, or merely for amusement at first, and turn afterwards from romance to
cold fact, find it difiicult to divest the mind of what has been previously impressed upon it in the warm
colouring of the writer of fiction.
* Southern Division — Cornwall, p. 77.
152 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
He took assize of* bread and beer, tried men out of the jurisdiction of a lord
of the manor, by whom he pleased, acquitting felons and condemning the
innocent. The rector pleaded the charters, and a jury of five knights and
seven gentlemen was impaneled, by whose verdict it was shewn that the
rector had accepted as surety for a man who had stolen a bull, another man
called Crowe, and that when the time of trial came, the thief was acquitted,
and the surety hanged in his place, by the suitors of the court and the town
burgesses, who let the thief go unpunished. For this the borough and liber-
ties were seized into the king's hands, and the rector, De Waleton, adjudged
to the king's mercy; the liberties of the borough were afterwards restored.
There is a commercial hall at Wigan, situated in the market-place, having
a number of shops on each side, and a large room over all for the sale of cloth,
while in the front is a newsroom, well adapted for that object, but during fairs
applied to commercial purposes. The church is a very fine pile of building,
erected about the commencement of the fifteenth century, in the place of one
which stood there before the year 1246. The tower, broad and massy, is
admirably proportioned, having fine arched windows just beneath the battle-
ments: the body consists of two side aisles, a nave, and chancel; and contains
two chapels belonging to the Bradshaighe and Gerard families. This church
exhibits a fine interior, in the style of architecture common about the time of
its erection; strong pillars support the arches; the roof is lofty, and lighted
north and south by ranges of small pointed windows. There is some tapestry
at the altar representing the story of Ananias; and two mutilated figures are
shewn, said to be those of Sir William Bradshaighe and Mabell his wife. The
customary exhibition of parochial bad taste is exhibited here in the removal
of the beautiftdly carved font into a cellar of rubbish. There are several
other places of worship in Wigan, including an Episcopal chapel, two Catholic
chapels, a Presbyterian, Wesleyan, two Independent, two Baptist chapels,
and an Independent Methodist, and Swedenborgian place of worship. There
are one or two mansions yet left in this town of the Elizabethan date. During
the last civil war a remarkable instance took place at Wigan of the profligacy of
the Cavaliers, which in the west of England, under Goring and others of the
generals of Charles, was yet more notorious. At Wigan the Cavaliers obtained
an advantage over their opponents, and entered the chapel at Hindley, pulled
down the pulpit, played cards in the pews, tore the Bible to pieces, and
stuck the leaves on posts about the town. Near Wigan the supporters of the
Stuart party under the Earl of Derby, who was on his way from the Isle
of Man to join Charles II., were routed by Colonel Lilbume, when Sir
Thomas Tildesley was slain; the Earl of Derby escaped, and fled towards Wor-
cester with only two or three followers : and a pillar in Wigan-lane still marks
the place where Sir Thomas fell, erected by one of his officers in 1679, with
an appropriate inscription. Sir Thomas appears to have been a chivalrous
gentleman, as weU as a determined friend of the Stuarts: his last supposed
LANCASHIRE. 153
male heir joined the Pretender's standard in 1745. There is a picture of him
extant, dressed in a cuirass with a buff jacket, his hair over his shoulders in
the maimer of his time. It bears the stamp of a gentlemanly carriage, with
agreeable and good features, the very sight of which causes regret that such
men should have ever been arrayed against each other on their own ground.
In the contest in Wigan-lane, besides Sir Thomas Tyldesley, Lord Wid-
drington, one colonel, two majors, and a number of other officers, fell ; and five
colonels, four lieutenant-colonels, a major, four captains, two lieutenants, and
four hundred men, were made prisoners. The Pretender remained in Wigan
for one night in 174S, and levied contributions; but it does not appear that
any other occurrence of moment took place, as he was on his retreat to the
North, with the Duke of Cumberland moving in pursuit.
The charities of Wigan are numerous, and do great honour to the inhabi-
tants, being directed to almost every praiseworthy object ; and there are among
them no less than thirty-five Sunday and Charity schools, instructing nearly
8000 children. The town-hall, which is built of brick, was erected in 1720;
the sessions-bouse was rebuilt in 1829; while the borough gaol bears as old a
date as the reign of Henry YIII. Wigan has a pubhc dispensary, a barrack
formed out of the old Cloth-hall, and a hundred and fifteen steam-engines,
with a united power of 2113 horses ; it keeps two weekly markets and three
annual fairs.
Near Standish Gate, on the left-hand side going out of the town, is the
remnant of an ancient crosa,
which seems, from some
engravings of no very old
date, to be recently altered,
or the pavement raised
round it and the houses be-
hind it reconstructed. We
have given the representa-
tion as it now stands. This
is the remnant of Mab's
Cross, connected with a
singular story. We have
already alluded to a muti-
lated monument in Wigan
church over the remains of
Sir William Bradshaighe, a
military man, and his lady
MabeU. Sir William, who —
waa fond of travelling, lived in the reign of Edward III., and having gone
away &om home as it was supposed to the wars, and nothing being heard of
him for ten years, his wife Mabell, heiress of Hugh Norris de Haighe and
154 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTITRY :
Blackrode, having given up her husband for dead, as she very well might
have done, married a Welch knight. At length Sir William made his appear-
ance at home in a pilgrim's garb, and came to Haighe among the poor, who
were in the habit of going there for alms. The Lady MabcU seeing him, his
resemblance to her husband, whom she thought dead, struck her so much that
she wept; for which very natural feeling her new spouse chastised her in
that choler to which Welchmen are said to be rather prone. Upon this
Sir William went roimd to his tenantry and made himself known to them,
when the Welch knight betook himself to his heels, was overtaken by Sir
William near Newton Park, and killed. The confessor of Dame Mabell, in
consequence of her involuntary offence, enjoined her to go once a week while
she lived, barefooted and barelegged, from the Haighe where she resided to
the cross which is called Mab's Cross to this day, in memory of the circum-
stance. This, it must be confessed, was a hard sentence after a ten years
supposed widowhood, at least it would be thought so in modem times, when
the grief of widowhood is generally much shorter lived. It is said that Sir
William and Lady Mabell, the weekly pilgrimage notwithstanding, lived very
happily together afterwards. Haighe, the place of their residence, is called
Hawe by Leland, who says, " Mr. Bradeshau hath a place called Hawe about
a myle from Wigan. He hath founde moche canel like se coole, in his
grounde, very profitable to him, and Gerade of Ynse dwelleth in that paroch."
Haighe Hall had been the seat of the Norris family down to the reign of
Edward III., the heiress of which family marrying Sii- William Bradshaighe,
it came by a more recent marriage to the sixth Earl of Balcarras, Baron Wigan,
and is the property of the present earl. There is an old picture extant of the
hall and gardens, as laid out in the Flemish fashion, at the beginning of the
last century.*
Proceeding towards Preston town, we find on the western side of the
railroad going northward from Wigan, part of the parish of Standish, in
Leyland hundred, containing in all ten townships. Standish Hall, the seat of
the family of that name, has been modernized, and is remarkable as being the
place where the " Lancashire Plot" of 1694 was concocted, for replacing the
Stuarts on the British throne. There were once thirty-two halls in this
parish, of which Langtree and Bradley are the principal that are left. There
are some antique crosses here, and the church is a handsome structure, in the
Tuscan order of architecture, erected in 1584, by Richard Moodi, who had
been a monk, and whose figure lies recumbent upon a tomb within. The
advowson of this church has been in the Standish family for 700 years. The
church spire was blown down in 1806; there is a chapel of the Standishes
within the church, and numerous monuments and inscriptions, one of which,
to the memory of Mr. Watt of Oakhill, executed by the elder Bacon, is a
pleasing piece of sculpture. The townships in this parish do not call for
* Baincs* Lancashire, toI. iii.
LANCASHIRE. 156
pardcular notice, but in that of Coppull is Blainsco Hall, once the residence of
the ancient family of the name. Eccleston parish, to the north of Standish, com-
prises the townships of Parbold, Heskin, and Wrightington, and is watered
by the Yarrow river, which rises near Chorley, and joining the Lostock more
to the northward, falls into the Douglas. It has a church of considerable
antiquity lying in some flat meadows a little way from the village, having one
aisle, a nave, and chancel — the eastern window decorated with painted glass;
the date of its erection it is difficult to discover amid the modern reparations.
Here the curfew continues to be rung. Parbold and Wrightington town-
ships contain good coal mines and stone quarries; — ^Wrightington Hall is
almost wholly an edifice of the last century, with a few portions of the ancient
house, standing in a fine park. Horrock Hall, the seat of the Rigby family,
is an old stone edifice, and belonged to the Colonel Rigby distinguished
during the wars in the time of Charles I. Croston parish lies on the north-
west, clipped of the township of Hoole in 1642, which was made a distinct
parish; of Chorley, cut oflf in 1798, at the instance of the rector, as well as
Ruflford, to provide two livings for two of his sons; of Tarleton, and of
Hesketh, with Becconsall, taken away in 1821, by which means the rector
and vicar of Croston was enabled to hold these parishes for his life. Croston
parish, beside its own township, was reduced to those of Bispham, Bretherton,
Mawdsley, and Ulnes Walton. Croston borders on the river Douglas, which
falls into the estuary of the Ribble; the parish church is a large building,
containing the two chapels of RufiTord and Becconsall, with a square tower of
a construction exceedingly solid ; the roof within is flat and paneled. This
church was built upon the site of one of an older date, in the 16th century.
The village of Croston stands on the banks of the river Yarrow, and there
is much low land in its vicinity. llie townships of Mawdsley, Bispham,
Bretherton, and Ulnes, do not possess any object worthy of remark, except
Bank Hall, a fine old brick mansion in the style of Elizabeth, erected in
1608, once the residence of the family of Banastre, and now the property of
Mr. Leigh Keck. Much Hoole parish contains nothing of interest, and the
same may be said of Little Hoole; agues are prevalent over all this district,
from the marshy nature of the soil.
Leyland, which lies north of Eccleston, gives name to the hundred of
Leyland, and contains nine townships : of these, Euxton stands on the high
road to Preston from Wigan, having the river Yarrow on the south; the
manor belonging to Mr. Longworth of Liverpool, by purchase; the other town-
ships in this parish lying to the eastward of the road to Preston, we pass over
for the moment. Edward the Confessor is said to have held the manor of
Leyland : the church stands on high groimd on one side of the village, a roomy
fabric, the body in the modern taste, erected in 1816, but the tower is a remnant
of the former structure, which was of old English architecture more than com-
monly imposing. A stone in the churchyard marks where rest the ashes of
166 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
the last of the family, of the Weardens, and is dated in the 14th century.
There were two Edward Shakespears, vicars here. The principal old
residences are Warden Hall, belonging to the Farrington family, erected in
1509; an old hall, a seat of the Chamocks, of whom the divine Edward Char-
nock was one. Penwortham is a township and parish comprising those of
Longton, Hovrick, Farrington, and Hutton. The parish church is within a
mile and a half of the populous town of Preston, and there was here a monas-
tery of Benedictines established from Evesham very soon after the Norman
Conquest, which came into the Fleetwood family upon the suppression of the
monastic establishments in the 15th century, and was fitted up and inhabited
by them until they sold it. After passing through several hands, it came to the
Rev. R. A. Rawstone by purchase. The church is dedicated to St. Mary, and
was erected about the commencement of the 15th century; it has been recently
repaired in the modem taste, we had rather it had been restored to its pristine
architectural state. Penwortham Hall is a modem edifice, erected by Mr. Law-
rence Rawstone, in 1835^, and commands a fine view of the Ribble, with the
adjacent shores. Howick is a small township, and with Hutton, Farrington,
and Langton, exhibits nothing remarkable; but some Roman antiquities and
part of a Roman road have been found in the vicinity of these townships.
The buried timber, or more properly subterranean forest, to which we have
already adverted as existing in the west of Lancashire, is frequently disclo;sed
by the removal of the sand, and trees are abstracted from beneath it, but
not of so large a size as those found more to the southward.
Passing Walton le Dale, after crossing the Dcrwent, the road leading over
rich low meadow ground, we come to the Ribble, here a noble stream, flow-
ing along parallel with, and not far from the hill which, rising abruptly from
the level beneath, carries upon its summit Preston, or as the Lancastrians
term it " Proud Preston." The site is imposing and beautiful from the
southern approach, even the chimneys of the cotton manufactories, that rival
the church tower in height, do not appear so unsightly as in other places ; the
smoke too, from the elevated situation of the town, seems to hang about it much
less than about other manufacturing places not so happy in position. On
entering the town, the streets are found to be spacious and well built, but the
customary hue of a southern Lancashire town is everywhere discovered, as if
the blackness of the coal and the whiteness of the cotton were blended, to
form that prevalent dinginess of external objects, which is so unsightly,
monotonous, and wearisome to the vision, in the towns of this county.
Preston, in the centre of Lancashire and hundred of Amoundemess, is a
place of great antiquity, and until the commencement of the last century
appears to have stood first in the county for wealth, although inferior to
Manchester in population. Charles I. made a greater demand upon Preston
for ship-money, than upon any other town in the county. It derives its name
from having been once much occupied by ecclesiastics, at the time when the
LANCASHIRE. 157
hundred of Amoiindemess belonged to the Cathedral of York. The celebrated
guild of merchants, called Preston Guild, had its origin about 1329, though
some think it to be of a much older date ; and the Custumale of this town is a
curious document, securing privileges, some of them of a very singular kind,
nor are the penalties annexed much less so. Debtors, being burgesses, were
it appears to be ducked on the cuckstool for the fourth offence ; but to be
at mercy for the sum of twelvepence for three offences, provided the debt
were incurred for bread and ale. If a man's wife be lying-in of a son, and
he pleaded it, he was excused from obeying a justice's summons to go upon
an expedition. If any one called a married woman a naughty name, and no
witnesses were forthcoming, she might clear herself upon oath ; and then he
who was guilty of so calling her, was " to take himself by the nose, and say he
had spoken a lie."* The document, 700 years old, declares it to be the law
of Preston " which they have from the law of the Bretons." There were
formerly two monastic institutions in Preston, one called the Hospital of
St. Mary Magdalen, the other a monastery of grey friars; the last was a
prison until about fifty years ago, and traces of it yet remain. In the war
between Charles I. and the people of England, Preston was first occupied by
the royal party, but was quickly captured by the Parliament forces, and the
mayor killed in the storm. The Earl of Derby afterwards retook it, and
demolished the defences, and it was close to Preston that Cromwell routed the
Scotch army in 1648, after Sir Marmaduke Longdale had joined. The battle
was fought by the Ribble, and though Cromwell's strength was not half that
of his opponents, they lost in two days 15,000 men out of 26,000, the
remainder being nearly all taken or slain soon afterwards.
Preston receive4 several charters, and two in the reign of Charles II.
Among other superstitions of the time, the corporation in 1680 voted five
shillings to support the expense of two daughters of indigent burgesses going
to Chester to get cured by the royal touch. In 1715, the town being occupied
by the Pretender's forces, it was attacked and partly carried by storm, when
the garrison surrendered. In 1745, the Pretender remained but a very short
time at Preston on his retreat.
There was once established in Preston a Jacobite club, under the name of
the "Mayor and Corporation of the Ancient Borough of Walton;" it pos-
sessed all the insignia of a corporate body, and was continued long after the
political object which created it had ceased,* most probably out of good fellow-
ship. Richard Arkwright was bom at Preston in 1732 ; and here, in a tattered
dress, he commenced in conjunction with a mechanic named John Kay, in
1768, some of his improvements in the cotton-spinning mechanism, which
afterwards he followed up with so much success. The first cotton manufactory
in Preston was established in 1777. There are fifty-two steam-engines in the
town, having an aggregate power of about fifteen hundred horses. There is
also a good deal of flax spinning executed here.
* Baines* Lancashire, vol. iv.
158 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
PrcBton consisted originally of a good street, running nearly east and west,
on the right side of which, going westwards, was the market-place, and out of
this Fryer-street led north westwards. The main street was called Fisher-
street, and eastwards en-
tered Church- street, which
was a continuation of the
right line, having the church
at the commencement, be-
low which edifice, on the
opi>osite side, is the present
gaoL Time has not changed
li the plan of the town, for
[ the great additions made
I are only branches from this
centre; the streets are wide
and commodious, the houses
well built, and the ap-
proaches good in all direc-
tions. The engraving shews
the market place.
The gaol is a large building, seemingly well adapted for the purposes for
which it was erected, and contains a hundred and eighty cells; there is a
chapel and treadmill, and adjoining arc a convenient court-house and sessions-
hall. This prison is said to be very well regulated; but we were somewhat
startled in seeing cannon mounted upon the angles of the building, and
pointed up and down the streets. We were told that they were placed there
some time ago, upon an apprehension of violence in the town ; but that appre-
hension over, they should have been removed from a building where the moral
force of the laws alone should be exhibited, nqt instruments of violence.
There are several churches in Preston; the old, or parish church, is
dedicated to St. Wilfred ; and we never saw an ecclesiastical structure with
so little about it that is interesting; the registers are of no earlier date than
1611. In all there are four churches and one Episcopal chapel, two Soman
Catholic, and thirteen other chapels belonging to different denominations of
dissenters.
There is a guildhall, built about 1763; the town-hall was completed in
1 783 ; and there is a com exchange, a doth and a market hall. There arc gas
and water works, by which the town is well lit and supplied with water; and
it possesses a library, called the " Palatine" library; a "Preston Institution for
the Difiusion of Knowledge," with a library and museum; a law library,
an agricultural society, a theatre, and public walks. Preston is a port; vessels
of 150 tons ascending nearly to the town, and about S0,000 tons of goods
are entered, both inwards and outwards, annually. There is a fishery too in
LANCASHIRE. 159
the Ribble, belonging to the borough; the population of which is reckoned
about 40,000.
Preston possessed no less than seven charters, including the two before
mentioned, some of which seem to have conferred upon it the impolitic and
tyrannical power, too common, of excluding from living in towns or cities and
carrying on business in them, all not freemen, or who do not pay large sums of
money for the permission, to be expended in corporation feastings. In matters
connected with mtmicipal affairs, Preston was long distinguished before the
Municipal Reform Act. What are called the Guilds of Preston, at which the
corporation enacted bye-laws and confirmed their privileges, is peculiar.
These are held every twenty years, when the Trades, as they are called, meet
with banners and music, form a procession, and keep up a species of carnival,
at considerable cost to the town. The ladies of all degrees equally partake in
the festival; and balls and feastings are the order of the day. It is said that
this species of municipal jubilee has been kept up for two centuries and half,
and that it is wholly a local custom. The different companies or trades, after
the amusements of the time are over, attend to some formalities before the
corporation officers, and the guild adjourns for twenty years.
The inhabitants of Preston, according to rumour, assume an air of the ton
and of high breeding, which has conferred upon the town the epithet of
" proud," already mentioned; even beardless young gentlemen make an effort
to appear something, and among both sexes there is a perpetual effort to walk
upon stilts. We saw nothing of the kind in the place, and must attribute the
slander to the jealousy of those domiciliated in some less fortunate town of
the county than Preston in building and situation, and in addition perhaps to
a rival feeling, where cotton is less successfully manufactured.
The borough of Preston, comprising Fishwick, returns two members to
Parliament; the parish includes nine townships, namely — Preston, Barton,
Fishwick, Elston, Broughton, Grimsargh with Brockholes, Haighton, Lea,
Ashton, Ingol and Cottam, and Ribbleton. In the town are fifty-five day,
seventeen Sunday, and nine boarding schools; and the Sunday scholars, gra-
tuitously educated, are said to be 10,000 in number ; there are also several
charities, and societies for charitable purposes, in the town and parish.
We shall now change our ground a little south-eastwards, in order to finish
our itinerary of the hundreds of Salford and Leyland, and then proceed north-
wards into those of Blackburn and Amounderness. For this purpose we set
out early in the dusk of a February morning, from the northern suburb of
Manchester, intending to survey a district comprehended by a line drawn
from Manchester to Colne, from Colne to Clitheroe, from Clitheroe to Black-
bum, from Blackburn to Chorley, and thence to Wigan, including Haslingden,
Bury, and Bolton — a part of Lancashire which has other claims to attention
besides being the great seat of the cotton manufacture, and in which the anti-
quarian, the historian, and the lover of the picturesque, may find abundant
160 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
sourcea of ^atificatioa. As we passed along the streets we were much struck
by thousands of lights proceeding from the windows of the factories, which
opened out before us in the shape of a crescent, skirting the dark horizon.
The streets themselves were bare and silent, except that every now and then
we came upon a. gin-shop — last to close and first to open of all the other
marts — which shone bright and looked invitingly, but mostly presented a dark
contrast in the squalid figures and sad countenances of the pitiable frequenters.
Passing on we saw a group, which is no unusual sight in this manu&cturing
metropolis, a &mily of Irish peasants just entering the town. It consisted of
father, mother, and three children. Like the ancient philosopher, they, in
appearance, carried aU their treasures with them. The man — a gaunt figure,
trod on before, with a huge stick for his support, and rags alone for his cover-
ing; barefooted, and looking as keen with fasting and hoping as his own
mountain air. The woman, scarcely above four feet, bore in the hood of her
tattered cloak, a huge fat child of two years old, who was devouring a lump
of bread. The little creature, short, thin, and wan, seemed to totter under
her load. Some distance behind, almost naked and footworn, came a boy of
ten years of age, followed by a girl somewhat his senior, equally weary, and
nearly as badly clad. There they were, going to establish themselves in some
dark damp cellar, and make another painful experiment in the art of subsisting
on the least possible sustenance, and in the worst possible condition.
It was pleasing to find ourselves drawing near to the fresh air of the
country, and ere long we found other and more pleasing objects of contempla-
iirauing an agreeable
trough a country di-
l with well wooded
ties, rivulets, and
le mansions, we ar-
. a gate on the right
oad, which, not far
c village of Blake-
to the " Boggart's-
' or as it is generally
)y the natives " Bog-
B." The word ap-
I be a corruption of
!(.• Certwnly the
[ng itself is even still
own, and no little
- - j.,u^u ar the rural districts
of Lancashire. The " clough" is a long cleft or dell between two rocks,
Boih
LANCASHIRE. 161
the sides of whicli rise abruptly, and leave a narrow pass, widening a little
here and there, through which flows a small brook. In spite of the repeated
invasions of trade, with its unpicturesque accompaniments, the place presents
some interesting not to say romantic points of view, and affords in the midst
of summer a cool shady retreat, which the good people of Manchester seem
strangely to neglect. In days of yore however, an honest farmer, who
resided on the top of the " Clough," was sorely annoyed by its unearthly
tenant. Night after night the sprite paid his unwelcome visits. Tricks of
all kinds were played; sometimes the milk was churned, at others it was
overset ; the beds were stripped of their covering ; the maids found them-
selves in the morning either on the floor, or with their heels on the pillows;
rendered, <* Thou shall not be afraid for any Bu^t by night.'* Boh was the name of a fierce Gothic
general, son of Odin.
The hobgoblin mentioned in the text bears some resemblance to Robin-Good- Fellow, cotieerning
whose pranks there is an eminently beautiful poem ascribed to Ben Jonson ('* Reliques of Ancient
Poetry, vol. iv.), a stanxa or two of which we quote, if only to shew how admirably the rhythm is
adapted to the subject —
From Oberon, in fairye land.
The king of ghosts and shadows there,
Mad Robin I, at his command.
Am sent to view the night-sports here.
What re veil rout
Is kept about.
In every corner where I go,
I will o*er see*
And merry bee.
And make good sporty with bo» bo, ho!
Hore swift than lightening can I flye
About this aery welkin soone.
And in a minute's space deserye
Each thing that *s done bclowe the moonc.
There's not a hag
Or ghost shall wag,
Or cry, " ware goblins," where I go ;
But Robin I
There feates will spy,
And send them home, with ho^ ho, ho !
Then follows a description of his doings, which shew thtit he could tease and terrify as well as amuse.
The sprite in pur legend, however, seems more like a brother of his — not so generally known —
Robin- Bad' Fellow, thus set forth in an old tract :
We meet with Robin • Bad- Fellow a-nights.
That enters houses secret in the dark.
And only comes to pilfer, sleale and sharke,
And as the one made dishes clean (they say)
The other takes them quite and cleane away.
What*ere it be that is within his reach,
The filching tricke be doth his fingers teach.
163 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY I
the children started in their sleep, their htur bristled up, their eyeballs
rolled, they woke and wept! The master of the house tried every remedy,
patience last of all; and when this failed him, he made up his mind to " flit."
All was Boon ready for the removal ; the wagons were loaded over night,
only a few more fearful hours and they would be iar enough from the
goblin and his " hole." The family for once contented themselves with
straw beds. In the morning they were surprised to find how comfortably
they had all slept, and now congratulated each other that as the Boggart saw
they were in earnest, he had made up his mind to part company in a quiet,
friendly manner. Breakfast was soon over, the horses were yoked, the
carriages moved. " Thank God," said the farmer, " we are flitting at last."
" Yes," cried a voice (but too well known) aa from the top of the first wagon,
"and I'm flitting wi' ye,"" ,„ , , , ™
* ^ We entered the cleft,
"~ and looked in vain for the
abode of the Boggart, but
were abundantly repaid by
the beauty of the scenery.
Coming from the other end
of the dell, a boy met us
of the true Lancashire
breed, his breast uncovered,
his head bare and uncomb-
ed, his eyes and mouth full
of broad quiet fun, with
something like cunning in
his look, and signs of health
and strength from head to
foot. " Hast thou seen the
Boggart?" we inquired.
" There's noa Boggart
neaw," replied he, with an archness of meaning that language is quite unable
to convey.
We next reached Middleton, a neat village, with a picturesque church
well situated on the brow of a hill by the road side, forming an interesting
object from many points of the surrounding country. The manor of Middle-
ton, originally part of the honor of Clitheroe, and held by the Lacies, passed
in the reign of Henry VI, into the family of Assheton.
The parish church of Middleton, here shewn, is of great antiquity. In
this churchyard the gravestones are not erect, as is customary in the more
southern counties, but lie on the ground, as is generally the case throughout
Lancashire and the North. Brand says,* referring to a passage in Cicero,
* popular Autiquitin, p, 303, vol. ii.
LANCASHIRE.
diat " this custom has been derived from very ancient times." We wish
it were honoured in the breach rather than the observance, for more than
any other thing the practice derogates from picturesque effect, and perhaps
is that which constitutes the great difference between the churchyards of the
South and those of the North.
The church tower is surmounted by a etructure of wood; some have
imagined from deficiency in the strength of the substratum — which is of clay,
and could bear anything ; others have assigned considerations of economy —
but why lay out any money, unless some reason required the tower to be
heightened ? We have no doubt the addition was made to improve the
proportions and appearance of the building. There remains in the north
windows of this church a group of figures, representing persons of note in the
neighbourhood, to whom is assigned the honour of having led the iamous
Middleton bowmen in the battle of Flodden Field. On the floor of a niche
in the north wall, now covered, may be traced the outlines of an ancient
cross. The stained glass, which forms the ornament of the chancel window,
was removed hither from an ancient room in the rectory house, called " The
Hall," where may be seen a very curious specimen of a carved oak screen.
This house is an antique structure, supported in part by buttresses. Some
of the old inhabitants of the last generation remembered when it was sur-
rounded by a moat with a drawbridge; part of the moat remains, and loop-
holes for the discharge of arrows are still visible in the walls of the house.
In the year 1812, when the spirit of Luddism, having for its object the
destruction of machinery, spread from the county of Nottingham into Yorkshire
and Lancashire, it broke out with great violence in Middleton. A factory
here was surrounded by several thousands of persons in menacing array.
Loss of life did not deter the rioters, and peace was restored only by the
arrival of a large body of cavalry from Manchester.
Dr. Assheton, rector of Middleton, bom 1641, was the first projector of
164 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
the scheme for providing a maintenance for clergymen's widows ; which may
be considered as the origin of many systems of assurance in this kingdom.
Crossing the country towards the east, we came to Oldham. The road
leading hence to Manchester we found lined with carts conveying coal to
Manchester from Oldham, where the best house coal of the neighbourhood
is obtained.
Oldham is a parochial chapelry in the parish of Prestwich. The church
placed on an eminence near the centre of the town, overlooks the surrounding
country. A Saxon origin is claimed for the first erection. In this place
marriages were proclaimed by a magistrate in the market-place, during the
time of the Commonwealth.
Oldham has the distinction of giving name, if not birth, to Hugh Oldham,
Bishop of Exeter, collated in 1501. He founded and endowed the Free
Grammar School of Manchester.
No town in this vicinity has grown in size and numbers more rapidly than
Oldham. Its vicinity to Manchester, the advantages of water carriage, the
industry of the inhabitants, and above all, its mineral resources, have constituted
this one of the most extensive seats of the staple manufacture in the county.
An improvement in manners and intellectual cultivation is beginning to be
visible. The goods chiefly made here are fustians, velveteens, calicoes, and
cotton and wooUen cords. The silk manufacture is making progress. The
original staple trade is the manufacture of hats, which still prevails to a very
large extent. The town is situated on an eminence, near the source of the
Irk, and is washed on the east by a branch of the Medlock. In Plumpton
and Plumpton Clough, a woody glen, the remains of an iron forge were found,
supposed to be the work of the Saxons.
In the township of Chadderton, lying to the west of Oldham, near the
front door of the Hall, is a tumulus, near which a number of ancient relics
have been found.
A few miles brought us to Rochdale,* and we found ourselves entering on
a more elevated country; in fact the high hills, which branch off from the
English Apennines, run down near Rochdale in long ridges into the level
country of Manchester and its vicinity. Now for the first time we became
sensible of the cold keen air we should have to encounter in skirting, as was
our intention, the base of the mountains which separate Yorkshire from Lan-
cashire, and form part of that extensive range which has been not inaptly
* It is the inhabitants of this district whom Camdea had chiefly in Tiew, when, in his prefatory
remarks to his account of Lancashire, he says: " Whom J feel some secret reluctance to visit, if they
will forgive me the expression. I fear I shall give little satisfaction to myself or my readers here, so
little encouragement did I meet with when I surveyed much the greater part of this county, so com-
pletely has time destroyed the original names everywhere. But that I may not seem to neglect
Lancashire, I must attempt the task, not doubting but Providence, which has hitherto favoured me,
will assist me here." How different is Lancashire '* in the nineteenth century" from this unknown
and barbarous land on which the hardy topographer trembled to set his foot !
LANCASHIRE. 165
denominated " the backbone of the island/' On drawing near to the town we
were struck by the hard cold appearance which the custom of covering the
dwellings with stone, instead of slates or tiles, gives to all the places in this
part of the county. Nor, on entering it did we find any beauty in the
buildings, or arrangements of the streets, to remove the unfavourable eflfect.
On our right we passed the Roch, a river which gives its name to the town.
On a height, to our left, was the church. If the building which it replaced
had no better architectural pretensions than the present edifice, it was hardly
worth the while for spiritual beings to take the trouble they are said to have
given themselves in fixing its site.* The materials laid for the building on the
spot fixed upon by Gamel the Saxon thane, are said to have been removed by
supernatural agency. This Gamel, it appears, held two hides in Recedham or
Rochdale, under Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, by a gift of Roger de
Poictou, he had two carucates of land : he is conjectured to be the progenitor
of Agnes de Rachdale, who married Sir John Saville, according to the pedi-
gree of the Saville family ;t b^t to proceed — ^the necessary preparations were
made, the banks of the river groaned under the huge beams and massy stones,
and all seemed to promise a speedy and successful termination. But there
were those — ^not the less powerftd because invisible to eyes of flesh and blood
— who did not approve of the site, having resolved that the edifice shoidd raise
its head on the neighbouring hill. Accordingly, in one night all was trans-
ferred to its summit. The spectacle was beheld in the morning with universal
dismay! But the lord was not a man to be easily foiled ; at his command the
materials were brought down to their former station. A watch was set, and
all now appeared safe. In the morning, however, the ground was once more
bare ! Another attempt was rewarded by another fidlure. The spirits had
conquered. One who knew more of them than he should have done, made
his appearance, and after detailing what he chose of the doings of the sprites,
presented to the lord a massy ring, bearing an inscription of this purport:
The Norman shall rule on the Saxon's heel,
And the stranger shall rule o*er England's weal ;
Through castle and ball, by night or by day.
The stranger shall thrive for ever and aye ;
But in liacheds above the rest.
The stranger shall thrive the best !
In accordance with this ratiocination runs the old and now nearly obsolete
remark, that *^ strangers prosper, but natives are unfortunate."
Hochdale came into the possession of the Byron family in the reign of
Elizabeth, who demised it to Sir John Byron. After undergoing some change
of masters, the manor is found in 1660 in the hands of Richard Lord Byron.
William, the fifth Lord Byron, killed William Chaworth, esq. in a duel, for
which he was tried before the House of Peers, and convicted of manslaughter.
* Roby's Traditions of Lancashire, vol. i. t History of Lancashire, vol. ii.
166 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY I
He obtained his discharge by pleading his privilege as a Peer, under the
statute of Edward VI. Admiral John Byron, the brother of the Baron, sailed
in his youth with Commodore Anson, the circumnavigator, and was cast away,
on an uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean, where for five years he endured
hardships unheard of, except in the pages of romance. His son John married
Catherine Gordon, lineally descended from the Earl of Huntley and the
Princess Jane Stuart. The issue of this marriage was George Gordon, the
late Lord Byron, who died at Missolonghi on the 19th April, 1824. His
cousin, George Anson, succeeded to the title, and is the present Baron of
Kochdale. The title is all that remains; since the illustrious poet sold the
manor and estate of Rochdale, the rights of which extend over 82,000 statute
acres of land, to the late James Dearden, esq., whose son, bearing his father's
name, now holds these princely domains.
There are many spots in the neighbourhood of Rochdale which will repay
a visit. Among these we selected one near " Healey Hall," and bending
our steps towards the township of Spotland, were not long in arriving at our
destination. We had to ascend and pass through a hilly and unsheltered tract
of country, and soon became aware that we had now got into a district where
the leaven of the old Saxon tongue, customs, and character, is less adulterated
than in most other parts of Lancashire. As we passed on, these words, on a
placard, struck our eye, " A Motty for Women held here." " A Motty" is
Lancashire for a club. The mills were just " loosing," and the clatter made
by the clogs of the workmen as they hurried to their dinner, reminded us of
France, and assured us that Baines* was not correct in saying, in relation to
Rochdale, *^ wooden shoes, since called clogs, now so general in this neigh-
bourhood, are gradually falling into disuse." Indeed, it is not many years
ago that, on entering the house, we might have said mansion, of a very wealthy
manufacturer residing not far from this place, we had our ears saluted by
that which was at first an inexplicable noise within such walls, but which
proved to be the sound and echoes of his children's clogs as they scampered
through the hall into their nursery, scared at the unusual sight of a stranger.
The cottages which we passed on our road, though unpicturesque, as
all Lancashire cottages are, gave signs, both within and without, of good
housewifery. Oaten cake was to be seen everywhere, suspended by lines
from the ceilings. This species of food is to be found in perfection in the east
of Lancashire, and is in high repute with the natives. Nor can we aiErm that
its fame is wholly undeserved. A regiment of soldiers raised in those parts,
and in the west of Yorkshire, at the beginning of the last war, took the name
of the " Oatencake Lads," assuming as their badge an oat-cake, which was
placed, for the purpose of attraction, on the point of the recruiting seijeant's
sword.
Proceeding along, up a hilly country, we suddqply came to a most beauti-
* History of Lancashire, vol. it. p« 635.
LANCASHISE. 167
ful Spot, on the left side of the road. It was the place of which we were in
search, " The Thrutch." The name is descriptive of the character of the spot.
To thrutch, in the Lancashire
patois, is to thrust with vio-
lence, and the division he-
tween the two sides of the
rock has the appearance of
having been produced by a
sudden and resistless thrust
of nature. On the top, as
you turn in from the road,
stands Healey Hall which,
like many houses dignified
with the name of Hall, in
these parts, has httle but
age, size, and solidity, to dis-
tinguish it firom an ordinary
lann-house. It is now in-
habited by Mr. Tweedale, a
partner in the firm of Leech and Tweedale, woollen manufacturers, whose
works, together with those of another tradesman, occupy this cleft. In
running the eye over the map which accompanies Dr. Whitaker's History of
Whalley, one is surprised to mark the great number of Halls scattered over
the district we are now surveying. Relics of most of these remain, but in
general the houses are turned to manufacturing or agricultural purposes. The
fear expressed by that learned, acute, but prejudiced writer, has to a great
extent been realised. " A new principle is now introduced, which threatens
gradually to absorb the whole property of the district within its own vortex.
I mean the principle of manufactures, aided by the discoveries lately made in
the two dangerous (!) sciences of Chemistry and Mechanics. The operation of
this principle is accompanied with another effect, of which it is impossible to
speak but in the language of sorrow and indignation. In great manufactories
human corruption, accumulated in large masses, seems to undergo a kind of
fermentation, which sublimes it to a degree of mahgnity not to be exceeded
out of hell."* The property has changed hands; socially, the change is, we
think, for the better, for we entirely disapprove of the unqualified terms in
which the historian condemns manufactures; at the same time we have too
often been painfully struck vrith the devastations which " the principle of
manufectures" haa committed on many, if not most of the venerable or pic-
turesque spots in the Manchester district, not to lament the good old days
when neither steam, nor smoke, nor tall chimneys, nor " unwashed artificers, "
defiled the beauties of nature. As it is, however, one finds it an almost impos-
■ Hilt. Whit. p. 484.
lt.AND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
sibility to escape from the unsightly objects which manufiicturcs have planted
alike in the lowest dell and on the loftiest mountain of the country. Dr.
Whitaker himself, however, seems to admit thai the picture has its lights.
As an instance of the inconvenience arising from the dispersion of society, he
speaks of a blacksmith having been called to bleed a Duchess, There is no
fear that so lamentable an event should take place in any part of Lancashire
in these days.
But never were we mote grieved at witnessing how manufactures have
disfigured and destroyed the fairer features of out mother earth, than when
we stood near Healcy Hall and cast our eyes over " The Thrutch." Neverthe-
less, the place is still lovely. Wood and water combine with the position of
the rocks to surprise and enchant the spectator. At the top the land wears
the appearance of having been separated by a different kind of influence from
that which forced apart the bottom; for it slopes, especially on the right side,
easily down for some distance, when the rocks are suddenly riven, and stand
in long succession one over against the other, in huge and threatening pro-
jections. Down this lengthened cleft the river Spodden, which rises in the
mountains some two miles higher up, bursts, hurries and falls, forming more
than one cascade, and, with its sparkling white foam, presenting a strong con-
trast against the dark grey sides of the ravine and the deep foliage of the trees.
It is said that the monks shewed^ by the localities which they chose for
their abodes, that they had a true and vivid sense of natural beauty. This is
at least equally true with
beings who were once yet
more spiritual than they.
Some way or other, all the
pretty spots, at least in
Lancashire, were haunted
by ideal beings. The noise
of the steam-engine seems
to have scared them away;
but he who loves to study
human natiurc, — in what it
was, as well as in what it
is, and who knows that the
present is only the past over
again — the garb, not the
body, being altered, — will
not disdain to linger around
the places to which our ancestors attached a feeling little less respectable than
that of religious awe. Under the influence of some such sentiment as this we
went in search of the " Faiiies' Chapel," shewn in the above cut. We found
it hidden behind a ledge of rocks, at the base of which it lies, a sort of natural
- LANCASHIRE. 169
excavation formed by the attrition of the waters undermining the rock; and
like other spots of the same secluded character, it has its " legendary lore."
Returning firom the glen in order to pursue our journey, we were arrested
by observing the extent of view which presents itself from the height on
which the mansion stands. There, on one side, we saw Lime Park, in
Cheshire; there. Cloud End, in StaiFordshire ; and there, the Derbyshire
Hills. Nay, even Moel Famma, truly Mother of Mountains, darkened on the
sight. On a bleak moor, called Monstone Edge, in this hamlet, is a huge
stone which is said to have been quoited hither by Robin Hood, firom his
bed on Blackstone Edge, about six miles off. Were it not a pity to spoil so
romantic a story, one would be tempted to pronounce the stone a simple
boundary mark. In the township in which we have now detained the reader
(Spotland), there prevails an old primitive custom which the " Temperance
Movement" of the present day may soon deprive of its peculiarity. On the
first Sunday in May the young people assemble at Knott Hill annually, for
the purpose of presenting to each other their mutual greetings on the return
of the season, and of pledging each other in the pure beverage which flows
firom the mountain springs.
Along the high and barren ridge of hills which separate the valley of the
Roch firom that of Spodden, extending from the spot to which we have
brought our narrative to Todmorden and Cliviger, and forming the line
which we had to follow in our journey, are several elevations whose names or
appearances indicate their situation, or the uses to which they were anciently
applied. " Wardle" was evidently the hill where ''^ watch and ward" was
kept. '* Tooter Hill'* is a local name for the Homblower's Hill. " Hades
Hill" sends its waters to the "great gulf" of the Eastern and the Western
Sea. We may so far anticipate our narrative as to add that Hades Hill and
Thieveley Pike, formed the connecting links between Pendle Hill and
Buckton Castle; the beacons on which were all successively fired in the
'* Pilgrimage of Grace;" an event which was the immediate occasion of the
ignominious death of Paslew, the last abbot of Whalley, and of the destruction
of the magnificent " House" over which he presided.
Returning into the centre of Rochdale, we paid a visit to the churchyard
in order to see the stone placed above the remains of Tim Bobbin* and his
wife. We read and copied the following: —
** Here lies John, and with him Mary,
Clieek-by-jowl, and never vary ;
No wonder that they no agree,
John wants no punch and Moll no tea.**
* " The works of Tim Bobbin, Esq., in prose and verse, with a Memoir of the Author by John Corry,
Rochdale, 1819.'* This is the best edition of Tim Bobbin's works but it is not a complete collection,
and is moreover very scarce. A new and critical edition of this sole Lancashire classic is a desideratum.
The original plates are in existence, whence the illustrations of " Tummus and Meary,*' as well as of
the " Human Passions'* were taken, and may, we have reason to know, be purchased for no very large
Z
170 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
John Collier, bearing the sobriquet of Tim Bobbiriy who united in himself
the qualities of Hogarth and those of Swift —
A man so various that he sccm'd to be
Not one, but all mankind's epitome;
And in the course of one revolving moon
Was teacher, piper, patriot, and buffoon ;
Then all for painting, quipping, rhyming, drinking.
Besides ten thousand freaks that died iu thinking—-
was bom at a house called, according to the peculiar manner of the country,
Richard o' Jones' 8, in Urmston, near Manchester, December 16th, 1708. His
father, a clergyman, intended him for the church, but was unable from want
of pecuniary means to fulfil his purpose. The boy accordingly, to quote his
own words, "went 'prentice in May 1772, to one Johnson, a Dutch loom-
weaver, on Newton Moor, in the parish of Mottram; but hating slavery in all
shapes, I by Divine Providence (railing my old scull-hat to the mitres), on
November 19th, 1729, commenced schoolmaster at Milnrow." Here in time
he became a man of some consequence. He studied drawing and music, and
soon began to teach these accomplishments to others. He excelled in painting
landscapes and caricatures. His superior knowledge, and the skill he dis-
played in the decoration of his person, made him the " envy and admiration"
of his neighbourhood. The young farmers courted and imitated him. On
one occasion he appeared at the church with a necklace, put on in jest, and
retained through forgetfulness. Shortly after, the beaux of the place shewed
themselves bedecked with similar ornaments. Like greater men, he appears
to have commenced authorship with satire.*
From the ease and humour of some of his letters to his friends, it is
evident that he was an entertaining companion as well as humourist ; but as in
many other cases, his conviviality cost him dearly, leading as it did, to habits
of intemperance which never left him. A rising family induced him to try
sum. We add the full title of Tim Dobbin's chief work just now referred to, '* A View of the
Lancashire Dialect by way of Dialogue, between Tummus o' WillimsV, o' Margit o' Uo.iph's, an
o* Meary o' Dick's, o' Tummy o* Peggy's/* (such is the pedigree on both sides), " showing in ihai
speech the comical adventures and misfortunes of a Lancashire clown. To wliich is prefixed (by way
of preface) a Dialogue between the Author and his Pamphlet; with a few Observations for the
better Pronunciation of the Dialect; with a Glossary of all the Lancashire Words and Phrases therein
used : By Tim Bobbin, Fellow of the Sisyphuin Society of Dutch Loom Weavers, and an old adept
in the Dialect.
Heaw arse wood wur I, eh this Wark ! — Glooar o* monny o* Beck,
The edition from which we transcrilie (Rochdale, 1819) is itself a reprint. There is another,
<( Manchester, 1819." 'J'hese two differ in their ontcnts, but are the only ones that are worth
purchasing ; the Manchester edition is much inferioi lo the Rochdale. Some London publisher has
lately put out an edition which has no literary value. W e have never been able to meet with an
entire copy of an edition published under the supervision of Tim himself.
• — me quoque pectoris
Tentavit in dulci juvenlh
Frevor et in celeres iambos
Misit furenlem.
Horatius Restilutvs, by James Tate, M. A., p. 46, Prelim. Diss.
LANCASHIRE. 171
his skill in oil painting, and he gained much provincial celebrity. In time,
indeed, his pictures were sought for, even from the West Indies and North
America. He principally excelled in painting the ludicrous. In the midst
of his fame and dissipation, he put forth his famous work, the *' View of the
Lancashire Pialect ;" the popularity of which the author saw and enjoyed.*
Tim Bobbin, as he was now called, had attained the zenith of his fame; his
society was sought by persons of station. Prompted by the hope of bettering
his worldly condition, he migrated over the hills to Yorkshire ; but finding the
employment irksome, he soon returned to Milnrow, resuming his old arm-
chair, and with it his freedom and authority. He now began to put forth
his " Human Passions ;" in which, if he has outraged nature, he has also
taught many useful lessons. Squibs and satires also engaged the attention of
his ambling Muse. Occasionally he gratified his friends by an epistle in
rhyme. We subjoin, as a specimen, an extract from a letter to his friend
Mr. Cowper, a wine merchant in Liverpool.
Perhaps jour pictures you expect, I from my cot, this Christmas-eve,
Before I feel the warm effect Write with a troubled mind — believe,
Of your care-killing liquor! And wife in doleful dumps;
But hark you, sir ! the days are dark. For who can merry be, that's wise,
And cold ; on then I hete aw wark,\ While what he wants in Lerpo \ lies.
As ill as any vicar. And vexed with jeers and frumps ?
But in a month, or two, at least, Fray send a line, that I may say.
Except the sun wheel back to th' cast, To my crooked rib, on such a day.
You may expect your beauties; Your gossip's nose shall job in
But in the meantime must I fast? A tankard made of mountain wine.
Or guzzle ale not to my taste? Sweet water, nutmeg, sugar fine.
Nay, hang me on some yew trees ! And set at rest
Tim Bobbin.
He retained his humour, and continued a facetious companion in his old
age, the infirmities of which he bore with equanimity, though the free life he
had led, made them in his case very numerous and severe.
One piece he wrote, entitled " A Codicil to the last Will and Testament
of James Clegg, Conjuror," contains directions which serve to illustrate, not
only his own peculiar vein, but the customs and habits of the county .§
* He lived to see a fifth edition.
f Lancashire for — and then I hate all work. \ Liverpool.
$ ** I will that they invite to my funeral sixty of my friends, or best acquaintance, and also five
fiddlers, to be there exactly at two oVlock.
Tlial no women be invited, no man that wears a white cap or apron ; that no tobacco or snuff* be
there, to prevent any sneezing.
That they provide sixty-two spiced cakes, value two shillings, and twenty shillings* worth of the
best ale that is within two miles, allowing the best ruby-noses present, Roger Taylor and John Booth,
to be judges. (" O monstrous ! but one halfpenny worth of bread to this intolerable deal of sack.'*)
That if my next relations think a wooden jump too chargeable, then I will that my executors cause
roe to be dressed in my roast-meat clothes, lay me on a bier, stangs, or the like; give all present a
sprig of rosemary, hollies, or gorses, and a cake. That no tears be shed, but be merry for two hours.
That all shall drhik a gill bumper, and the fiddlers play Britons strike Home, whilst they are bring-
172 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
At the end of the codicil come simdry bequests, conceived in a still more
openly satirical mood. One of these bequests is so goodhumouredly satirical
that we may be pardoned for quoting it : — " Item, I give my forty-five minute
sand-glass (on which is painted old Time sleeping) unto that clergyman living
within three miles of my house who is most noted for preaching long-winded,
tautologizing sermons, provided he never turn it twice at one heat/*
Collier's satire has not eradicated the practice of feasting at funerals.
Entertainments at burial are of ancient date. " Juvenal," says Brand in his
Popular Antiquities, "mentions the Ccena feralis, which was intended to
appease the ghosts of the dead. The modem arvals, however, are intended to
appease the appetites of the living." And certainly the sight of such a feast
among the people in Lancashire cannot fail to impress the beholder with the
feeling that the main concern is care for the living \mder the pretext of
bewailing the dead. Nor is it possible to see the handsome maimer in which,
not seldom funeral carriages are decorated without suspecting that ostentation
has its share in the ceremony. Nor, if more is now eaten than the allowance
in the " codicil" would seem to imply, is there any diminution in the quantity
drimk, while tobacco is a luxury that is never wanting. And not seldom have
we experienced to our cost that no less incongruity still prevails between the
music and the occasion, than is implied in Britons strike Home and O clap your
Hands performed at an interment.
Dr. Whitaker observes, speaking of the Lancashire gentry in the " good
old times," " It required the economy of half a life, to enable men in this
rank to afford to die, for their funerals were scenes of prodigality not to be
described. I have seen the accoimts of an executor in the ^ sober ' times of
ing xne out and covering me. Then the bier and attendants, none riding on horseback but face to tail,
except MK George Stansfield of Sowerby (which privilege I allow him, for reasons best known to
myself), then the C of S— C — 1 shall bring up the rear, dressed in his pontificalibus, and riding
on an ass ; the which if be duly and honestly perform, and also read the usual office, then my
executors shall nem, con, pay him twenty-one shillings.
If the singers at Shaw meet me 6fty yards from the chapel, and sing the anthem clap yonr Handsy
pay them five shillings.
Next I will that I be laid near the huge ruins of James Wolfenden, late landlord of Skaao Chapelt
which done, pay the sexton half-a- crown.
Then let all go to the alehouse I most frequented, and eat, drink, and l>e merry, till the shot
amount to thirty shillings; the fiddlers playing the Coryuror's gone Home, with other tunes at
discretion, to which I leave them ; and then pay the fiddlers two shillings and sixpence each.
If my next relations think it worth their cost and pains to lay a stone over me, then I will that
John Collier of MUnrow cut the following epitaph on it : —
Here Conjuror Clegg, beneath this stone.
By his best friends was laid ;
Weep, O ye fiddlers, now he*s gone.
Who loved the tweedling trade 1
Mourn all ye brewers of good ale.
Sellers of books and news ;
But smile ye jolly priests — be*8 pale.
Who grudged your power and dues!
LANCASHIRE. 173
the Commonwealth, from which it appears that at the funeral of an ordinary
gentleman in the chapelry of Burnley, 47/. (more than treble that sum at
present), were consumed almost entirely in meat and drink; lOs, indeed
were allowed to the preacher for a sermon, by which his congregation no
doubt were well prepared to edify in the evening, and 5*. to scholars for
verses on the deceased.'**
The following lines by a living poet, poet in truth, though of the same craft
as Bobbin himself, are worthy both of the subject on whom they are written
and of the writer. They are also eminently characteristic, certainly of the first,
perhaps of the second as well ; and, being written in the Lancashire tongue,
may serve as a less unintelligible specimen of it than many we have seen:
TIM BOBBIN' GRAVE.
I Btoode beside Tim Bobbin' grtLve,
'At looks o'er Ratcbda* teawn,
An' tb' owd lad 'woke within his yerth,
An* Bed wheer arte' beawn.
Om gooin' into th* Packer street.
As far as tb* Gowden Bell,
To taste o* Daniel Kesmus ale.
Tim, — I cud like a saup mysel*.
An' by this bont o' my reet arm.
If fro' that hole tbcaw'll reauk,
'i'licaw'st have a saup o' th' best breawn ale
*At ever lips did seawk.
The greawn'd it sturr'd beneath my feet»
An* then I yerd a groan,
He shook the dust fro' off his skull.
An' rowlt away the stone.
I brought him op o' a deep breawn jug,
'At a gallon did contain.
An' he took it at one blessed draught,
'An laid him deawn again.
Bamporo.
On a bleak hill, to the north of Milnrow, is the scattered village of Gallows,
formerly the site of the ancient baronial executions. Many old family man-
sions, more or less in a state of decay, are found in the vicinity of Rochdale.
We name Howard Hall, in Hundersfield, anciently a stately mansion, but
now a plain substantial stone building, because it has the reputation of being
the noble spring whence came
« AH the blood of all the Howards."
We left Rochdale by the Manchester and Leeds Railway, which con-
necting together the Irish Sea and German Ocean, allows a journey from
Liverpool to Hull to be performed in a few hours. The features of the
• Hist. Wballey, p. 479.
174 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
country began to improve. The unsightly symbols of manufacturing industry
became " few and far between," A noble range of hills stretched along on
our right, at the base of which we were hurrying along, ascending as we
went, through a pleasant vale. The celebrated Blackst one-edge soon broke on
our view, one of the haunts of Kobin Hood, and, since his time, of more of
the " minions of the moon" thun we should choose to encounter. From the
top of this mountain there is an extensive and magnificent view both of York-
shire and of Lancashire; but we have more than once found ourselves dis-
appointed, owing to the prevalence of bad weather, for the moisture which is
drawn up out of both the eastern and western sciis, being intercepted by this
lofty ridge, is condensed into fogs, or falls in rain, and leaves but compara-
tively few days on which the traveller can enjoy the fine prospects to be had
from it. On the summit of Black stone-edge is a reservoir of great capacity,
which serves as a feeder of the Rochdale Canal; and near its eastern extremity
runs the division line between York and Lancaster.
Kear the summit of the Rochdale Canal, at a place called Steaner Bottom,
stands an old house now in decay, of some antiquity, attracting notice from
its carved inscription in relief, running the whole length of the building, and
expressed in these terms :
We shortly arrived at Littleborough, which is celebrated as a Roman
station. He remains of the Boman camp have nearly disappeared; but the
site of the works rears its lofty front a little to the east of the village, and
bears on its summit the ancient mansion of Windy-Bank, overlooking the
numerous picturesque objects which present themselves in the valley near the
junction of the roads at the foot of Blackstone-edge. Towards the close of the
last century a number of coins, some of them as early as Claudius, were dug
up at Castlemeer, in this vicinity.
About two miles to the north-east, the right arm of a silver statue of
Victory was discovered in the year 1793, supposed by Dr. Whitaker to have
been the arm of a votive statue of Valerius Rufus, broken off, and lost by the
Roman army in one of their marches from York to Manchester.
One of the first chapels in the parish of Rochdale was built at Little-
borough, It was licensed for mass by the Abbey of Whalley in 1476. In
the year 1815 this venerable edifice was replaced by a neat modem erection,
whose site, placed as it is, just in front of two well wooded brows, with lofty
mountains for a background, is peculiarly striking.
LANCASHIRE. 175
On our left lay Stubley Hall, originally built by Nicholas de Stubley, an
early residence of the Holts. The name oi Holt has for centuries been asso-
ciated with dignity and opulence in this parish. The Holts were strongly
attached to the cause ot the Stuarts; and, in the list of knights in the pro-
jected order of the " Royal Oak,'' on the restoration of Charles I., the names
both of Thomas and of Robert Holte appear.
The general decay of native woods occasioned an universal disuse of
timber in buildings about the latter end of Henry VIII.'s time. The first
instance of an entire hall-house of brick and stone is Stubley. The reigns of
Henry VIII. and Elizabeth constituted a new era in domestic architecture;
numbers of old timber halls having gone to decay, were replaced by strong
and plain mansions of stone. Stubley Hall, in the time of Whitaker, con-
tained much carving in wood. He particularises a rich and beautiful screen
between the hall and parlour, with a number of crests, ciphers, and cognizances,
belonging to the Holts and other families of the neighbourhood.
Quitting Littleborough we found ourselves almost flying up and through
the mountains. The country became bolder. We had entered the vale of
Todmorden, w^hose beauty has not been improved by the formation of the
Railway. Nor do we think that the Lancashire portion ever justified the
high encomiums which have been lavished upon it. Our passage through the
"Summit Tunnel" was attended by most impressive circumstances. The
rapidity of our flight, the screech of the warning-signal from the engine, the
overhanging column of mingled smoke and steam, the rush of air, together
with the lurid glare and innumerable sparks thrown by the flambeaux which
the train carried, and others borne by persons stationed in the tunnel, con-
spired, with the feeling that we were passing through the body of a huge
mountain, to excite and to awe our mind; for there were we, if out of peril,
yet in the very midst of the stupendous works of nature, and the highest
triumphs of human enterprise.
The formation of this tunnel was a long, costly, and perilous work, involving
the loss of twenty-eight lives.
We came out of the tunnel not far from Todmorden, when we found our-
selves surrounded by lofty and precipitous mountains, with the town lying
between them, on the eastern and western banks of the Calder. This river,
which takes its rise on the margin of the forest of Rossendale, at the north-
western extremity of the township, serves to divide the two counties. The
stream hurries through the midst of the place, which is irregularly built, being
scattered up and down on the tw^o opposite sides of the mountain in a
straggling manner, which accords not amiss with the wild appearance of the
country.
The three great requisites for manufacturing prosperity are found in the
vale of Todmorden in perfection — ^building materials, coal and water commu-
nication. Under these favourable circumstances Todmorden has become a
176 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
place of great importance in the manufacture of cotton, and can offer more
than one instance, among thousands to be found in other localities, of the
elevation to opulence of persons whose intellectual culture was no less humble
than their origin. •
In order to find a position whence we might take a lull view of Tod-
morden and its immediate vicinity, we climbed up what is termed *' The
Ridge," rising directly above the railway. We were repaid for our trouble.
In the bottom, on our left, the road to Burnley took its gently sweeping
course. Following the line of the railway, our eyes were met by the river
and the canal, which conducted our view up to the lofty hills leading into
Yorkshire. In our front, and on our right, lay the disjecta membra of the
town itself, with the Church, the Hall, the Unitarian Chapel, and the works
of Mr. Fielden, as prominent and striking objects. One feature must not be
omitted. A factory chimney rose out of the mountain far up its side — ^no
unusual sight in these parts ; the chimney is run up the hill for a considerable
length, when it takes a vertical position, and ascends to the necessary height.
By this singular contrivance a more powerftd draft is obtained, in consequence
of the facility with which the chimney can be lengthened out.
Immediately abovie the town the mountains rose in long, high, and succes-
sive sweeps, the summits being finely rounded, and vegetation stretching
along the sides nearly up to the very top.
Turning round on our left, we entered on the road leading from Todmorden
to Burnley, and found om*selves in a lengthened winding gorge, running
between the Lancashire mountains on the left, and the Yorkshire on the right
side. We had now, of a truth, got into Cliviger, the rocky district y as the word
implies. The mountains on the Lancashire side rise precipitously to a great
height, are broken by deep ravines, and form, by the peculiar curves which
they talce, a series of huge bowls. At present, the road on both sides is well
covered with vegetation ; larch, mountain-ash, and birch trees appear at every
step — the result, for the most part, of a laudable effort, on the part of Dr.
Whitakcr, who, in the interval between the years 1784 and 1799, planted
422,000 trees on his estate of Holme, cutting, at the same time, pathways
along the plantations several miles in circuit, which exhibit many interesting
views. As the district abounds in coal, the works which are built, and the
employments which proceed for procuring that mineral, have in a measure
driven away the crowds of hawks which had from time immemorial inhabited
there as a secure retreat; and even the pair of noble ^^ rock eagles," men-
tioned by Whitakcr as having, far " longer than the memory of man runneth,"
defied what tinle, age, and yet more destructive sportsmen could do against
them, have disappeared before the unsparing spirit of trade.
In travelling through this most picturesque vale, we met at every bend of
the hills new groups and combinations of sublime or pleasing objects. Some-
times the mountains closed in and seemed to intercept our passage. The
t
I
J
>^ '■ '-^
J
]
<»
J
LANCASHIRE. 177
next minute they opened, and winding round, threw before our sight a wide
eircular plain, with the narrow Calder trickling at their base. Still more
remarkable was the bold and sudden sweep with which the mountains ran
down one upon another, or into the strips of plain below — now in one vast
unbroken curve, and now riven into clefts, which gave pathways to cascades,
whose waters contrasted pleasingly with the deep blue around them. The
most imposing
of all was the
mountain com-
monly termed
" The Eagle's
Crag," which '
rose almost (
perpendicularly i
above us, cloth-
ed with vegeta-
tion. A slender
mist overspread
the hillside, and
aided the imagi-
niition in conceiving the shape of a huge eagle (hence the name), whose half
uplifted wings the dark foliage aided the fancy to shadow out. It was impos-
sible to stand below the tremendous crag, whilst feeling the loneliness and
impressive silence of the place, calling also to mind how many a traveller had
looked on the scone with fears that chilled his frame, without being conscious
of emotions which, if akin to superstition, partook of the awful and the sublime.
Most suitable spot, we exclaimed, for the haunts and revels of evil
spirits. And in this witching place, accordingly, tradition has placed a
legend —
Wearily had Giles Robinson been toilbg all night long through the
narrow pass we have attempted to describe. Most unwillingly had he under-
taken the journey; but a payment which he had to make by nine o'clock in
the morning had deprived him of all choice. His destination was a few miles
on the road towards Buraley, and he hoped, as it was All Saints Day, that he
should be able to reach his home in Pendle Forest by nightfall. Vexed by the
difficulties he had experienced in procuring the money which he carried, and
enraged at what he accounted an injustice, in relation to the claim he was
about to liquidate, the worthy former — such was his profession — pursued his
lonely and rugged path in no very amiable state of mind, when, of a sudden,
a ilash of light passed across his eyes, and immediately after a crash, as if
the mountain at his side were of a sudden rent, passed through his ears,
striking him with amazeracut. The first idea which came into his confused
mind was that he was beset by robbers. He folded his arms round his body,
178 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
and seemed by his action, to imply that the enemy shoidd take his life before
they found their way to his carefully hidden treasure.
Recovering in a degree from his alarm, he directed his eyes upwards on
the left, and there beheld that which all but smote him to the earth in dismay.
It was Loynd, indeed, the witch, whose name was a terror throughout the
forest of Blackburnshire. Before he could again raise his trembling eyes, he
found himself in a terrific storm. The thunder roared and echoed on all
sides, around, through, and over the mountains. The rain fell in torrents.
Poor Giles was near sinking with fatigue and dread. He was just on the
point of returning, in hope of finding shelter, when he felt something hard
and smooth rub against his legs. Looking down, he saw a huge black cat,
whose eyes emitted sparks of fire. On a sudden, a voice came forth, as if
from his mouth — " Thou cursed my mistress two days ago, she will meet thee
again at Malkin Tower." The familiar disappeared, darting more quickly
than thought to the top of the precipice, when Robinson, in following his
flight, saw him alight immediately on the shoulders of " Loynd Wife," who
was sitting astride the Eagle's crag. The moment the cat had taken his place,
the witch drew a huge flambeau, as it were, from the beak of the eagle, and
waving it round and round in her hand, flew away as swiftly and securely as
an eagle itself, in a north-west direction.
" True enough," ejaculated Giles, " she is gone to Pendle Forest. Horrid
scenes, doubtless, will take place there before the sun is high in the heavens."
On the previous evening Giles' son had left his home, and wandered forth
in an idle mood. Meeting a neighbour, he asked of him to go and gather
berries in his small enclosure. Obtaining permission, he darted into the
thicket and was soon lost from sight. After proceeding a few hundred yards,
he saw two greyhounds come running towards him over the next field. They
approached and fawned on him; and then he saw with astonishment that their
collars were of gold. Gratified at so fine an opportunity, he determined to
hunt with them. Most opportunely a hare at that moment rose just in front.
**Loo! loo!" he shouted, but not a step would the animals take. He was
naturally enraged, and, having a cudgel in his hand, he did not hesitate to
bestow it upon them. The stick produced a miraculous effect; for, instead of
one hound, he saw, with his own eyes, Moll Dickenson; and, instead of the
other, a little boy. Ned — such was the appellation by which he usually went
—endeavoured to take to his heels, but the woman's hand was cast on his
shoulder, and seemed to pin him to the ground. *^ Here," said she, offering
him a purse of silver, " take this, and hold thy peace."
*' Aroint thee, witch!" replied the boy, "thinkest I know thee not?"
On which Moll took from her pocket a string, and threw it on her attendant's
neck, who at once was changed into a white horse. Poor Ned felt himself
the next moment on the neck of the horse, seated before the witch. Before
he had recovered from his surprise he found they had airived at a new house
LANCASHIRE. 179
called Hoarestones, higher up the mountain. The door was beset by beings
human in shape but demoniacal in aspect. Others of similar appearance were
coming up on fiery horses from all quarters, but in greatest number from the
Cliviger side of the coimty. The boy had heard of " the Witches' Sabbath,**
and he was now convinced he was about to witness their horrid rites. Alas !
he witnessed more that night than it befitted a boy to see or any modest
tongue to tell. Threescore hags crowded the place. They first prepared a
feast. At a word fires were kindled, and whole carcases were roasting before
them. Ere he could well turn his eyes to the table the meat was ready for the
carver's knife, and the witches were in the midst of their carnival. Not two
minutes had elapsed before they all arose as if at a secret signal, and uttered a
shriek which might have been heard down to the lowest depths of the moun-
tain's base. "Feed him, feed the wretch!" cried she who had brought him.
A young comely woman forthwith tripped up to him bearing a delicious steak
in a golden dish. Ned's eyes glistened, and his mouth watered. He took a
portion within his lips and fell backward, overcome with disgust. What was
his astonishment to find himself the next minute on his legs in a bam ! Before
him six hags knelt, and pulled at six ropes fastened to the roof Down the
ropes immediately ran roasted lambs, lumps of butter, and the richest cream,
falling into dishes and basins placed to receive them. These witches were
soon replaced by six others, who applied themselves to the same work. But
who can describe the hideous features which they all wore, or the horrid
discord, which came as from twelve church-bells all broken, while owls hooted
in secluded comers of the barn, and shrieks and groans thickened around it
from without.
Of a sudden a vast cauldron rose upon the bam floor, surrounded both on
the inside and the out with lurid and scorching flames. A number of the
foulest hags appeared, who, acting under the orders of one whom he recog-
nised as " Loynd Wife," threw various things into the cauldron, as they said —
1st WUch, Here's the blood of a bat.
Loynd. Put in that, O put in that.
Qd WUch. Here's libbard's bane.
Lot/nd. Put in again.
Ist WUck, The juice of toad, the oil of adder.
2d WUch, That will make the yonker madder.
Loynd. Put in; there's all, and rid the stench.
Firestone. Nay here's three ounces of the red- hair 'd wench.
All. Round, around, around.
" It takes ! " they all suddenly shrieked. " Her flesh has done it." On
which the trembling boy saw his father and his mother rise in the opposite
comer of the room.
'* Wretches ! " exclaimed Loynd, " we know, and can punish our enemies.
You are here to see the fate of your own boy;" — but before the sentence was
terminated Ned had darted from the bam, and was hurrying towards his home
180 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
at his utmost speed, " Could I," he thought, " but get past the * Boggart-
hole' I should be safe." After him, however, came a troop of witches, led by
Loynd. She was nearly on his heels, and had stretched out her long bony
hand to seize him, when he leaped like a wounded deer, and sunk full two
yards lower down the mountain than the Boggart-hole. That moment two
horsemen came up; the witches scampered into the forest, and Ned was con-
ducted to his home. For a whole week the poor boy did nothing but rave.
His father arrived a short time after Ned, and found that one object of the
gathering of the witches had indeed been to punish him and his house.
For days did Giles remain unemployed, and almost speechless, plotting
revenge; till at last he suddenly broke forth, " Wife, there is law against these
demons, and I will have it; the lad is getting better, and his evidence with
mine will hang them all."
In truth eighteen persons were brought up for trial at Lancaster, seventeen
of whom were found guilty on the oath of Giles and his son, and condemned
to suffer death. For some reason, however, the judge thought fit to grant the
prisoners a reprieve, and reported the case to the king in council. They
were next remitted to the Bishop of Chester. His opinion was given, and
four of them were sent to London, and there examined, first by the king*s
physicians, and afterwards by Charles I. in person.
Suspicions arose, Giles and his son were subjected to a very searching
investigation, when it appeared that whether the father had been scared by
a thunder-storm or not, certainly the boy had been suborned to give false
witness, in order to serve as an instrument of revenge.
Not the least extraordinary fact remains to be mentioned. One of the
accused, by name Margaret Johnson, had actually confessed her guilt, stating
in the most particular manner how, when, where, and for what purpose, and
with what experience she had of her own free will become a witch.* So
overpowering is the force of popular prejudice when arrayed in the awful
power of the invisible world ; and so small is the worth of confessions of guilt
when the mind is full of false notions, the imagination morbid, and the pas-
sions in a flame.t
* DcKlsworth*s MSa vol. Ixi. p. 47.
t *' This story," Dr. Whiiaker informs us. " made so much noise, that in the following year (1634)
was acted and published a play, entitled the * Witches of Lancashire,* which has been applied by Mr.
Stephens to the illustration of Shakspeare. The term has since been transferred to a gentler species of
fascination, which my fair countrywomen still continue to exert in full force, without any apprehension
of the county magistrate or even of the king in council." Tiie females of these parts deserve their
reputation, which indeed is not of recent date. Drayton thus speaks of the '* Lancashire Witches "
of his day —
First that most precious thing and pleasing most to man,
Who from him (made of earth) immediately began,
His sheself, woman ; which the goodliest of this isle
This county hath brought forth, that much doth grace my stile;
Why should those ancients else, which so much knowing were.
When they the Blazons gave to every several shire,
Faire woman as mine own, have titled due to me?
LANCASHIRE. 181
The whole of this part of the country was eminently fitted to originate
and foster superstition among an ignorant people. With forests extending on
all sides, lofty mountains, deep and shady glens, dark and unsightly dwellings,
the imaginary beings which alarmed and harassed our forefathers may well
have found a refiige and a shelter here, when they had been compelled to
retire from other parts of the country by the increasing light of day. Nor was
it a mere inspiration of fancy that prevailed. In these times we can form no
idea of the terrible power which the belief in goblins and witches carried with
it of old, productive as it was of the most slavish disquietude. Every principal
house had a ghost, and every death was preceded by secret signs and warnings.
Whitaker mentions what he designates " one practical superstition," as being
peculiar to the district. " The hydrocephalus is a disease incident to adolescent
animals, and is supposed by the shepherds and herdsmen to be contagious ;
but in order to arrest the progress of the disease, whenever a young beast
had died of this complaint, it was usual, and it has I believe been practised
by farmers yet aHve, to cut off the head, and convey it for interment into the
nearest part of the adjoining county. Stiperden, a desert plain upon the
border of Yorkshire, was the place of skulls." TTie learned historian accounts
for the disappearance of witches on the ground, not of the spread of increased
intelligence, but of an alleged diminution of social intercourse, and of the
friendly feelings which it originates; seeming to point to what is the great
Nor is it possible to see the fine straight well>proportioned frames of the present girls of the county
without admiration. A bevy of Lancashire girls issuing from a factory, or beheld at their employment,
provided it be in the country, for the tovn populations are of the most medley character, cannot fail
both to strike and gratify the spectator.
It is one among a thousand of the acts of injustice done by ** the lord of the creation " against his
weaker but better self, that the violence of superstition should have been made to fall with peculiar
and almost exclusive force upon females. The very name witchcraft, not wizardcrafl, shews that
women have had to bear this grievous burden. And by a sort of superfluity of wrong doing, the aged
were almost the sole parties against whom the popular disfavour was directed.
That pattern of wisdom and paragon of philosophy, King James, in his " Demonology,** assigns
the following as bis explanation of the supposed fact, that witches exist to wizards, in the proportion
of twenty to one :
" The reason is easy, for as the sex is frailer than man is, so is it easier to be entrapped in these
grosse snares of the devil 1, as was over well proved to be true, by the Serpent's deceiving of Eve, at the
beginning, which makes him the homelier with that sex sensine."
The events of which we have given above the leading features, happened in 1633. Previous to
this, another similar tragedy had been enacted. This county — we quote the curious and learned old
antiquarian work, •• British Topography, 1780,"— so fertile in sorcery and witchcraft, produced '* The
wonderful discoverie, with the arrainment and trial of nineteen notorious witches, at the assizes and
general gaol delivery, holden at Lancaster Castle, Munday, Aug. 6, 1612, before Sir James Altham
and Sir £dw. Bromley, with the arrainment and trial of Janet Preston at the assizes held at Yorke,
with her execution for the murther of master Lister by witchcraft, published by command of his
Majesty's justices of assize in the northern parte, by Thomas Potts, Esq." 1613, 4to. : and " A par-
ticular declaration of the most barbaVous and damnable practises, murtherous, wicked, and devilish
conspiracies practised and exercised by the most dangerous and malicious witch Elizabeth Sowthcrnes,
alias Demdike, of the forest of Pendle, in the county of Lancaster, widow, who died in Lancaster
Castle before her trial." 1612, 4to.
182 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
object of his dislike, and which had in his day begun to make palpable inroads
on the seclusion if not the beauty of the countiy, namely, manufactures ; and
certainly, while it may admit of a question whether manufactures on the whole
have not softened as well as enlightened private life, they have indirectly served
to liberate society from many distressing illusions. Commerce has, however,
stiU a work, in the way of disenchantment, to perform among the riu'al popula-
tion, and in the mountainous parts of the country. The number is not small,
whom no consideration could induce either to trust themselves to the perils of
a railway carriage, or dispense with that sure protection against witchcraft, a
horse-shoe nailed over the entrance door of their houses. Having fallen into
conversation with a working man on our road near Holme Chapel, we asked
him if people in those parts were now ever annoyed by beings of another
world. Affecting the esprit forty he boldly answered " Noa, the country is
too full of folk;" while his whole manner, and especially his countenance, as
plainly said " Yes." A boy who stood near was more honest: " O yes!" he
exclaimed, turning pale, " the Boggart has driven William Clarke out of his
house; he flitted last Friday."
" \\Tiy," I asked, " what did the Boggart do?"
" O, he wouldn't let 'em sleep: he stript off the clothes."
"Was that all?"
" I canna say," answered the lad, in a tone which shewed he was afraid to
repeat all he had heard; " but they are gone, and the house is empty. You
can go and see for yoursell if ye loike : Will is a plasterer, and the house is
in Burnley Wood, on Brown Hills." So particidar an account, however,
required no investigation.
In this neighbourhood we arrived at the spot where the Calder takes its
rise, sending off one branch to the east, another to the west. The fountain
was not long since visible; but the person who farms the land having found
the water dangerous to his lambs, had covered it over, but we experienced no
difficulty in discovering its site by the superior freshness of the greensward.
A short ride brought us to Portsmouth, a place which lies just under a
side of the moimtain, rising abruptly in a precipice from its very base, and a
little farther on, descending in a series of lesser mountains, formed in the
shape of bastions. We had felt some curiosity to see this Portsmouth among
the mountains. We found it to be a solitary inn. Near at hand axe also
Whitehaven and Chatham. What could this mean? This is the interpreta-
tion : — Each place was but a house or two. A sailor, returning to the spot
where he drew his birth, after many long years spent in the service of his
king and country, pleased his fancy by giving these names to places as dis-
similar as can be conceived to those which bear them of right; and while
he gratified his whim, astounded the villagers by the wondrous tales he told,
occasionally chuckling at the thought that tradition would give him a sort of
immortality by bearing down the names, if not their origin, to distant ages.
LANCASHIRE. 183
Glad were we, however, to put into port, without being too critical as to
the propriety of the borrowed appellation. The Hocbuck gave us hospitality
— such hospitality as Ciui be experienced nowhere but in C'livigcr. Shivering
with cold, we entered a large kitchen, where was a true Lancashire fire; and
Btools, tables, platters, nay, the floor itself, of a shining whiteness resembling
the purest snow. But what language can do justice to the ham? Not fewer
than fifty fine hams hung suspended from the ceiling! And then, who would
know how delicious a flavour a well cooked potatoc has, must first visit Lan-
cashire, and then proceed to Cliviger, Lancashire is said to be the first English
county which grew the potatoe. The finest kinds it still produces. The ox-
noble potatoe, though it has had its day, retains a celebrity which even a
Wellington does not disown, for the memorial of the one may be seen sus-
pended not far from that of the other before many a village inn in Lancashire.
We passed one or two fine sheets of water, in which is good fishing, and
came to Holme Chapel.
The scenery here is less wild, and has a warmer as well as a more pleasing
aspect. Iiooking towards Burnley we saw a number of interesting objects,
spread over a country gradually opening and sinking down into the plains.
TTie vegetation was rich; the brook, whose head we had just passed, was here
and there confined and dammed up, making good pools for the angler, and
adding to the beauty of the country. A small hill lying somewhat to the left
attracted our attention. It was in shape something like a laige truncated
cone, and being planted with a tuft of trees, made a singular and pleasing
object in the prospect. Its name is Dyneley Knoll.
Holme Chapel is a com-
paratively modem build-
ing erected in 1T88, on
the spot where a rude
but pictujresque edifice
formerly stood. This was
originally a chantry, found-
ed upon the dissolution
of Whalley Abbey, which
came into the possession
of the Whitakcr family in
the reign of Elizabeth.
The chantry was soon dis-
solved, and the place, by
a singular fate, remained
without a minister for the
space of two hundred
years. In 1796, Thomas
Dunham Whitaker was licensed to it on his own petition. 'i"he old stracture
184 EXBLAXI) IN THE KIN'ETEENTII CEXTURY:
was diminutive but venerable, and was surrounded by a grove of Bycamores
swarming with rooks ; " so," to cite the words of Dr. Whitoker liimself, " that
when there was any competition of voices at all, cawing drowned the parson's
saw." 'ITie parents of the historian of Whalley He buried in this chapel. Dr.
\\'i]liam Whitakcr, his father, was a clergyman of multifarious learning, a
rigid Calvinist, and a most prolific writer on controversial and dogmatical
subjects. These are the terms in which Bishop Hall chaiacterises him:
" The honour of our schools, and the angel of our church, than whom our
age saw nothing more memorable; — what clearness of judgment, what sweet-
ness of style, what gravity of person, what grace of carriage was in that man !
Who ever saw him without reverence, or heard him without wonder?" The
Whitakers are descended from the first families of Lancashire the Shcr-
bumes, Townleys, Stanleys, and Hariingtons.
The hall was originally of wood. I'he centre and eastern wing were re-
built in 1603.
ITie west re-
— .■.-■.^.'■'^ *.., . ~7 mainedofwood
"" ~ ■ -- . "■ till 171^^ ^^
had one or more
private closets
for the conceal-
ment of priests,
the family hav-
ing continued
recusants, at
least to the latter
end of the reign
of Elizabeth.
TTie accompanying sketch will afford an idea of what the house is at present.
From Holme we passed through a less elevated but pleasing district to
Ormerod, " In this township," relates Dr. AVhitaker, " is still preserved an
instrument of ancient and approved efficacy in suppressing the Hcensc of
female tongues, namely a Brank. W'ith this unenviable head-dress the culprit
in the olden time was led about in a disgracefiil state of penal silence.
In passing along we made diligent inquiry for this extraordinary machine,
but to no purpose ; all with whom we spoke, declared that use for many such
instruments could be found in the neighbourhood, and seemed to regret that
it was not within their reach. According to Plott, this "artifice is much
to be preferred to the ducking-stool, which not only endangers the health of
the party, but also gives the tongue liberty 'twixt every dip; to neither of
which is this at all liable, it being such a bridle for the tongue as not only
quite deprives them of speech, but brings shame for the transgression and
hinnilily thereupon before 't is taken off; «hich being put upon the offender
185
by order of the magistrate, and fastened with a padlock bctind, she is led
round the town by an officer, to her shame; nor is it taken off till after
the party begins to shew all external signs imaginable of humiliation and
amendment."*
The Cross of Holme yet remains, of which '■■■' ' •
the annexed cut is a representation. It has , —
escaped the ravages of time with less detri-
ment than many similar objects of the same
kind in that neighbourhood, some of which
have received more injury from wanton bad
usage than from a long course of years; it is
pleasing to reflect, that a better spirit seems
now to have arisen, and we sincerely hope it
will become universal.
The next hamlet we entered was Haberg-
ham Eaves, where the scenery, yet remaining
agreeable, has lost its mountainous character.
This place was once the residence of a respect-
able family, the last representative of which
wasted the patrimonial property, came to ruin,
and was not joined to his ancestors in burial.
His wife has left a memorial of herself and her
sorrows in some not inelegant verses, in which, under the emblem of flowers,
she strove to commemorate her experience and soothe her grief.
The gardener standing b;, In June the red rote ipriing,
Proferred to chcwK for me, But wu no flower for me ;
The pink, the primroce, and the rose, I plucked it up. Id '. hy the *Ialk,
But I refused Ibe three. And planted the oillair tree.
The piimrou J furwok, The willow I no* must wear.
BecatiH it came too >ooD, With aorrowa tiriped among,
That all the world may know
I faltebood loTcd too long.
"We turned off the high toad on the right, and came into Towneley Park.
It is a spacious inclosure, wearing a rather neglected aspect, but presentii^
beautifrU views, and knolls of fine trees, especially many venerable oaks. The
hall lies in a well sheltered spot under cover of a hill at the back, and is
enclosed nearly all round with high land. The original site was a tall and
■ Since writing the above, w* hare learned that the late Dr. Whiuker wu in poMeuion oTa" Brank,
or Lucy's Munle," when he wrote the Hislorir of Wtulley , hut the preient occupier of Holme.
T. H. Whilaker, Esq., a grandson of Dr. Wliitaker, is ignorant of what has become of it.
Tbere is a classical bble which weari a similar aspect as the machine mentioned in the leiL Poor
Chione! She was not talislied vith being loied by Apollo; she must needs allow her tongue a license
against Diana. The goddess would not endure the scorn, and shot an arrow right through the pecont
member. The expedient was more eRectiTe than mercifuL
186 ENGLAND IN THE KINETEENTH CENTURY:
shapely knoll, southward from the present manEion, etill named Castlchill, on
the eastern side of which are obscure remains of trenches. The mansion
wears a noble aspect, worthy of the family to whom it belongs.
Till some hundred years ago, it was a complete quadrangle, with two
turrets at the angles, of which the south side, still remaining, has walls more
than six feet thick. In the eastern wing we noticed a doorway with an arch
of singular construction.
Entering the house by a curious old door made of carved oak, we found
ourselves in a fine hall, furnished with a biUiard
table, sofas, and other conveniences, and adorned
by casts from the antique, antlers, etc. In the
drawing-room, besides some good pictures, are
four busts ; two of the late Charles Towneley,
one of the late John Towneley, father of the
present occupant, and the fourth, a copy of Isis
rising out of the sunflower, by Nollekens. In
the dining-room is a very fine portrait by Van-
dyke, of Lord Widdington, who was killed in
the battle of Wigan-Iane. There have also
recently been brought to the house from Stella,
near Newcastle, nearly sixty portraits, chiefly of
the Widdington branch of the family, painted
by Lely, KneUer, Dobson, Van Loo, Wessing, and Houseman. One, that of a
female in rich silk drapery, by Lely, is admirably executed. A sort of picture
gallery running the whole length of the eastern wing, contains a great number
of family portraits inserted in the panels of the wainscot, offering in the
successive changes of costume and of expression, an interesting subject of
contemplation to the philosophical student of history. Among these we
LANCASHIRE. 187
noticed particularly John Towneley, the translator into French of Hudibras,
who lived so long in France that, but for his bearing an English name, he
would from his dress and air, be undoubtedly taken by a spectator for a
Frenchman. As if to make his pecidiarities more striking, there is placed by
the side of him a good-humoured rubicund countenance, of the true English
gentleman sort, whose wearer looks no less well satisfied with himself than
with all about him. We must name Richard Towneley also, bom in 1528,
who was so long in foreign countries that it was only by his dog that he was
recognised on his return, and this faithfrd companion is painted at his side.
Charles Towneley, the celebrated antiquary, we cannot in justice pass without
a brief record.
The premature death of his father, William Towneley, caused him to
succeed to the family estate when qidte a child, and in combination with
religious considerations, induced his guardians to send him for education to
the College of Douay in France ; the chief resort of young men of rank,
heirs of the Catholic gentry in England. His progress was distinguished.
Under the auspices of Chevalier Towneley, whom we have before named as
the translator of Hudibras, and who was also a friend of Voltaire, young
Towneley was initiated into most of the graces and some of the follies of the
French capital. About 1758 he took possession of the family residence, and
gained no small acceptance by bearing part in the athletic sports of the field,
and the boisterous hospitality for which country gentlemen were then often
distingiiished.
In 1766 he visited Rome and Florence, and commenced those researches
and studies which raised him to the first rank among connoisseurs, and gave
him at once the desire and the skill to make the collection of Marbles by which
he has connected his name permanently with the history of his country. The
ardour with which he gave himself to this laudable pursidt, may be con-
jectured from the fact, that on arriving at Syracuse, after a long and fatiguing
journey, he could take neither rest nor refreshment till he had visited the
fountain of Arethusa.
The strong attachment of his fitmily for the Pretender, secured Mr.
Towneley a favourable reception in Rome, and greatly facilitated his re-
searches. The era was, next to that of Leo X., the most interesting and
propitious in relation to the discovery of antiquities. Aided by Gavin
Hamilton, and others, Mr. Towneley accumulated the best assemblage of
Grecian and Roman marbles which had been seen in England. These
precious treasures he exhibited in a residence which he purchased in Park-
street, Westminster, where the favoured visitor might contemplate a scene
realized from the descriptions of Cicero and Pliny, being at the same time
gratified by the urbanity and intelligence of the accomplished owner. His
collection comprised, in addition to splendid marbles, ancient bronze figiures
and utensils, coins, gems, antique pastes, drawings, a Greek manuscript of the
188 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
Iliad of the twelfth century. On his decease his executors offered to the
nation his marbles and terracottas, which by authority of Parliament were
purchased for the simi of 20,000/., and received into a building at the British
Museum, erected for the purpose. A second purchase was made under the
sanction of another act of Parliament, at a cost of 8200/.
From this Gallery of Portraits, we were conducted into a bedchamber,
where stand an ancient chest of drawers and an ancient bedstead of carved
oak, the latter executed in a very bold style, and both in good preservation.
Before quitting the house, we paid a visit to the chapel, a small neat room
fitted up with what is requisite for the celebration of the Catholic rites.
Large portions of the mansion are unoccupied, or resigned to menials.
On reviewing our impressions of the interior of this truly baronial hall, we
agree with the historian of Whalley, in the opinion that the chief object of
interest is to be found in " the noble woods, principally of ancient oak, finely
disposed and scattered over the park and demesnes to a great extent."
There seems reason to think that some rigour may have been of old
employed in widening the lands which surround this mansion, as an old tradi-
tion bears on the point.*
Sir John Towneley was neither a hard hearted nor a bad man. No one
could justly impute to him any infraction of the laws of his country. On
occasions he was even capable of performing acts of generosity. Yet he was
not beloved by his neighbours, and the poor feared rather than respected
him. As a boy, he was known for a love of making petty accumulations.
When he grew up to the period of youth, he seemed beset by a restlessness
of disposition which never let him remain contented with what he possessed.
If he saw a superior hound, or a high-spirited horse, he scarcely slept by
night, or rested by day, till he had made them his own.
Nor, in the opinion of rigid judges, was he over scrupulous about the
means of procuring these gratifications. If persuasion sufiiced, to persua-
sion he limited his efforts. When, however, good words and solid gold had
proved ineffectual, threats were not spared; nor were suspicions wanting
which hinted that some way or other evil befel those who resisted his inclina-
tions. Certain it is, that he had the reputation of being the best at a bargain
in the whole country, while the largesses he bestowed were not always free
from the taint of selfishness.
Those who knew him best, remarked that his love of acqiiisition became
stronger in his breast every passing year ; and but that he had a large family,
and possessed some warm feelings, they would have expected hinri to prove
a thorough miser at the last. After he had passed the age of fifty, he mani-
fested a most determined disposition to enlarge his paternal domains. Ready
money was procured, negotiations set on foot, lawyers employed, every re-
source called into request, in order to effect his purpose.
• Whiuker.
LANCASHIRE. 189
A large tract of land in the vicinity of his residence, remained unappro-
priated. The peasantry enjoyed it in common ; cottages were scattered np
and down it; the cows and the swine of the people found subsistence there;
and in truth it was not without valuable qualities. Master John had long
known its capabilities, and seen its lovely scenery with an envious eye. At
length he resolved to " lay it in," as the phrase went. Procuring the needfdl
authority, he issued notice that the property was his ; that the people should
no longer, under any pretext, feed their cattle thereon; and that they must all
have qidtted their houses within the space of three months.
This behest created the greatest discontent in Horelaw and Hollinhey
Clough. Resistance was contemplated ; in whatever direction Master John
took his way, he met with sullen or threatening looks. " They had," declared
a village Hampden, " as much right to their bits of land, as John Towneley
had to his acres. Nay, the ancestors of most of them had been there long
before his name was known, at least in those parts. Would they yield their
own without a struggle ?"
It was all in vain : not a family removed indeed ; but just three days after
the limited day, all were alarmed in the dead of the night by noises of opera-
tions they could not comprehend. It was a band of labourers, brought from
a distance, who, attended by a number of men at arms, were busily engaged
in demolishing the cottages. The next morning saw a dismal ruin. The
land was taken in, and made a part of Towneley Park. But who can tell the
dislike, not to say detestation, which this act called forth against its author ?
Bitterly painful were the feelings of the fathers, mothers, and children, who
were thus rudely driven from their homesteads. A poor woman above sixty
years of age died of the fright and grief which the expulsion occasioned her.
She had buried her husband a week before, with whom she had lived on that
spot eight and thirty years, and whom she had known from her earliest child-
hood. " It was hard," she said, *' to quit the auld place ; father and mother
were here before me ; and my poor auld man not yet cold in his grave."
It was noticed by those who knew Sir John best, that he never after this
transaction seemed quite at his ease. He was heard to talk to himself. He
gave over superintending the alterations reqtiired by the appropriation. He
died calling out, " lay out, lay out," that is *' disappropriate."
No wonder the credulous peasantry should have formed the conviction,
and given out the report that the old knight's spirit, being unable to rest,
wandered about the mansion, and might be heard over the very parts that had
been taken in, crying in most piteous tones —
Be warned ! lay out! lay out! be varned!
Around Horelaw and Hollinhey Clougb ;
To her children give back the widow's cot,
For you and yours there's still enough I*
• WhiUkcr's Whalley.
^
190 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
We next proceeded to Burnley — ^most unpicturesque of towns^ with a
hard^ cold appeai*ance> tall chimneys^ smoke> and a population looking as little
pleasing as their place of residence ; though parts of the town lie in situations
which afford scope for much architectural effect, were the taste and the
resources ftirnished which axe essential for so desirable a result. With the
true antiquarian spirit, we at once made our way to the " Old Church,*' but
found nothing to suit our purpose. We had heard of an old cross, and
knowing that no few Catholics were still found in Burnley, we expected to
find a choice relic of antiquity ; but in this too we were destined to meet with
disappointment. Something which was once a cross, a nearly unshapen stone
eight feet in height, bearing marks of having stood much rough weather, was
all that remained — imless indeed we add the stories we heard by its side, of
bones being discovered, and other evidences that we were standing on the
site of an old Catholic chapel.
Burnley — an important division of the parish of Whalley — stands on a
tongue of land formed by the confluence of the Bum, or Brun, with the
Caldcr, which passing on through Paliham and Whalley, fells into the Bibble. C
This town appears to have been a Boman station, lying on a vicinal way,
between Ribchester and Almondbury.
From Burnley we drove in a ss.b. direction, over high, bleak moors,
towards Padiham, passing, as we qidtted the town, the barracks, lately erected
for an aid in preserving the peace. Leaving a place termed Cheapside, we
reached Padiham, not long since the poorest village in Lancashire, having for
years been dependent for its support almost entirely on handloom weaving,
and that of the coarsest and worst paid fabrics. The introduction of" power,"
to use the technical term for mills driven by steam, has partially improved
the condition of the inhabitants, but the place still wears a mean appearance.
Indeed no few of the Lancashire villages have the unsightiy, not to say squalid,
look of too many of its towns, without the indications of their opulence. No
sight is more refreshing than the sight of a village in Lancashire, as all
villages ought to be, and as they mostiy are in the southern counties, with
cottages of brick and thatch, small gardens before the door, a bright stream
trickling through or near the place, and a sprinkling of good old houses,
betokening cultivation if not gentility; not to omit the neat old church, and a
smiling parsonage.
Glad were we to leave behind us the c6ld tract and poor vegetation we
had just passed, and descend into this warm bosom of the earth. The
country had indeed improved in appearance as we drew nearer Whalley, and
immediately above it presented some highly interesting views ; but we were
too wearied with our day's labour to give them any particular attention, or
record the seats and halls — ^most of which deserve the neglect in which we
left them — that we passed on our road.
Pinched with cold and famished with hunger, we alighted at the Swan
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LANCASHIRE. 191
Inn, kept by Mrs. Francis Silverwood, which we particularise thus for the
benefit of those who, like ourselves, may hereafter wish for the comforts of a
home when far from their own firesides. We shall not attempt to describe
our sensations on finding our foot once more on this spot, rendered venerable
and almost sacred by so many historical memories. At first, however, other
demands required satisfaction than those of the head or the heart. No
sooner had we partaken of the good things of " mine hostess," than we sallied
out, late as it was, if only to assure ourselves that the abbey and the chxirch
were in reality where we had left them some twelvemonth since, and to
resume our acquaintance with the most intelligent and obliging of all village
clerks in the kingdom. The moon was up, the village still, the air, for the
season of the year, soft and agreeable; the lulls lay in immense shadows; and
the Abbey and the Church — ^yes, there they were, immediately under the
light of the moon. We stood gazing in calm satisfaction, ideas and feel-
ings crowding on our mind, which was sensible even to a footfall, yet left
in almost unbroken tranquillity, when of a sudden the church bells broke
into a peal, and with their silver notes broke up the charm. We pro-
ceeded to our inn, and soon retired to our chamber, but though fiitigued were
for hours unable to sink to sleep, so busily occupied was our imagination
under the immediate influence of the genius of the place. Monks in their
cowls, barons in their armour, aU " the pomp and pride " of chivalry, and all
the gorgeous ceremonial of the old religion in its palmy state, passed in review
before us, image afl:er image succeeding each other, till our fancy was fairly
wearied out, and we slept — and in sleeping, again Uved in the very press and
bustle of the " olden time."
We were up with the sun. It was a fine spring morning, rather frosty.
Our intention was to ascend some height, and take a view of the surrounding
country. As the church lay in our way — the road to it up an entrance to the
right as you go towards the little picturesque bridge — ^we could not resist the
inclination to look into its venerable cemetery. A few sheep were nibbling a
surface of luxuriant grass, thickly covered with mounds, the separate resting-
places of long generations. And how tranquilly the sleepers rest — Protestant
and Catholic, regidar and secular, men of all ages and many conditions, side
by side till the last great day! How brief was each one's span of life! How
idle many of his solicitudes, and his joys how hoUow! Yet did they experience
deep, real, and satisfactory emotions; at least those who had undergone the
gentle passion, and from lovers had passed into parents. Even those who
never knew the delights, fears, and pains which the parental relation brings,
may still have felt the pure gratification of earnest devotion or of self-denying
philanthropy. All true feeling is satisfactory, all true and intense feeling
approaches the sublime —
*< Not a hillock moulders near tliat spot
By one dishonoured, or by all forgot."
i
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192 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
Those are the Crosses; — ^yes, there Paulinas stood and taught the gospel
of peace and love. This humble churchyard is a memorial of a great national
event.
These interesting remains commemorate the preaching in this place of
Paulinusy and the conversion of Northumbria, in which Whalley was included^
to the faith of Christ. It was a difficult labour that the missionary undertook.
It is never easy, especially when religion has intertwined itself with the
influences of even a low degree of civilization; but in this case the teachers
and the faith itself, the whole circle of ideas and appliances, were of foreign
extraction, and wore a foreign appearance. The upper classes, indeed, appear
to have outgrown the existing system. In a conference which Edwin held
with his great men, in order to learn their opinion as to the adoption of the
new religion, Coife, the high-priest, seems to have played the philosophe.
'* No one," said he in substance, " has served the gods more sedulously than
myself; no one has received fewer favours from them. My opinion is, that
they are not worth the attention they receive. Is the new religion better ? "
The council determines in its favour — ^but who should signify the same to the
people? Coifs offers himself. It was impious for the high-priest to ride on
anything but a mare. He demands of the king a war-horse and a spear,
gallops to the idol fane, transfixes the image, profanes the temple, and thus
breaks the charm. A stone church is erected on the spot where the temple
had stood.
And what were the arms which they brought for effecting the conquest of
the nation ? Augustin was in England. To his aid Pope Gregory sent four
priests, Milletus, Justus, Eufinianus, and Paulinus; and, with them,* in plain
English, he sent a pastoral letter to Augustin, and ordered for the Mission-
aries a goodly assortment of canonicals, relics, censers, etc. with special request
not to forget " the parchments." Yes, mark the emphasis in the last words
of our quotation, " especially very many manuscripts."
Paulinus reaped success. He converted Edwin, king of Northumberland.
Cautious were his steps, and wise his plan. Edwin was, as yet, not king, but
an exile; his life was in peril; his breast was full of solicitude. While in
this mood, he was addressed, under cover of the shades of evening, ** What
wilt thou give to have thy wishes fulfilled?" " The highest rewards in my
power." Thrice was the question put, and thrice answered, with increasing
emphasis. A hand fell on Edwin's head, while he heard the words " remem-
ber that sign." Edwin then knew that the being he had conversed with was
not a man but a spirit. He overcame, and ascended the throne. Still he is
not a Christian. Paulinus procures him a wife — ^but no conversion ensues.
• Not — Anna virosque— but — Que ad cultum erant ac ministerium EccIesiK neeeasaria, vasa Tidelieet
saera, et Testimeota altarium, ornamenta quoque Eccleuarum, et saeerdotalia Tel clericalia indumenta,
sanctorum etiam apostolorum et martyrum reliquias, nee uon et codices plurimoe. — Bede Historia
Ecclet. lib, t.
LANCASHIRE. 193
Eumer^ an assassin, is sent by a king of Essex to kill Edwin with a poisoned
dagger. The blow is received by a noble, who saw the villain's aim, but the
king is wounded. His wife, at the same time, is delivered of a daughter.
This rescue, and this blessing, Faulinus assures the king he had obtained of
the Almighty by his prayers. Edwin begins to give way, and promises to
become a Christian if his life is saved from the effects of the poison, and
victory given him over his royal but base assailant. These favours are also
granted, but the king is yet a Pagan. However, he begins to study Chris-
tianity, consults his wise men — ^but state policy probably stood in his way,
and he hesitates still. '' Hours together," says Bede, ^^ would he sit in
solitude, deliberating what he ought to do. On one such occasion the man
of Grod, entering to the king, placed his right hand on the king's head, and
asked him if he recognised the sign. The king fell, trembling, at the
Missionary's feet, who raised him, and addressed him in a friendly voice,
'^ Lo ! thou hast escaped from the hands of the enemies whom thou didst fear,
through the grace of God: Lot by his favour thou hast received the kingdom
which thou didst desire; remember thy promise, and receive the fsdth of Him
who has snatched thee from thy adversities, and will, if thou obey Him, save
thee from the perpetual torments of the wicked, and make thee a partaker
with himself in the heavens of his eternal kingdom." Edwin now knew from
what source the divine oracle had come to him, and, on consulting his nobles,
became Christian (627). His subjects followed their monarch. Faulinus
baptized twelve thousand converts in one day, and became Archbishop of
York. This was the Paidinus whose preaching here, in Whalley, is comme-
morated by the crosses that you behold.
*' There stands the messenger of truth ; there stands
The legate of the skies ! His theme dWin^
His offiee saered, his credentials clear ;
By him the violated lav speaks out
Its thunders; and by blm, in strains as sweet
As angels use^ the Gospel whispers peace.**
Faulinus appears, from the description of him left by the Venerable Bede,
to have had the power to alarm as well as to soothe, to terrify and to con-
ciliate. ** He was," says the graphic old chronicler, " a man tall of stature,
slightly bent, with black hair, emaciated countenance, a curved and very
slender nose, alike venerable and terrible in his aspect." This literal trans-
lation from the Ecclesiastical historian will aid the visitor's imagination to
body forth the figure of the preacher, and the details into which we have
gone may serve to bring up before him somewhat of the form and manners of
the age. Faulinus, measured by his contemporaries, was in himself a great
man, and the work which he performed was likewise great.
We left the pleasure of exploring the interior of the small and venerable
building for another opportunity, and proceeded towards Nab's Hill. We
passed two or three good houses on our right; but Whalley is celebrated not
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194 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY I
for its grandeur but its antiquity; and a truly neat village-like place it is,
with a pure atmosphere and balmy air. One from the south country finds in
it most of the features which make up his idea of an English village ; and but
for the clatter, worse than the croaking of Homer's frogs — of those abominable
clogs, coming from that group of boys at play — could easily fancy himself in
some sequestered nook of Sussex or Kent.
We were now making our way up Nab's Hill ; and heavy work we found,
though we literally circum verted it, in order to gain our purpose, ascending
through a naiTow sort of cleft which had the appearance of being " a water-
gait," as a watercourse is called in Lancashire. Beguiling our way, in
conversation with our guide, we learned that Whalley was almost exclusively
dependent on calico-weaving. We knew, therefore, that its population must
be wretchedly poor. The average earnings of a weaver here is three shillings
and sixpence a-week, not more than four men in the place can make five
shillings. And yet see how rich a land it is! what signs of abundance!
what noble mansions and " broad acres,*' loaded with the bounties of Provi-
dence ! Nor here, at least, is there any foreign or redundant population to
bring down wages — the population has long been on the decrease.
We had more than one fine view in ascending Nab's Hill, which amply
repaid our labour. The hill is intersected with lines of trees, which much
improve its appearance. It is indeed a fine object from the plains below,
though of small account as compared with other hills in its neighbourhood.
If planting should proceed as rapidly and well as it has done within the last
half century, this country may regain something of its old character, and be
once more a forest. Nab's Hill has been planted, Cliviger has been planted,
Langridge Fell, away yonder to the north west, has been planted. We scarcely
need add, that the beauty of the scenery has been immeasui'ably enhanced.
Equally improved has agriculture been in those parts of late ; the breed of
cattle also ; doubtless, the happy result of the residence on their estates of a
number of country gentlemen, who are thus occupying their time and talents
in a way which benefits the nation, while it augments their own resources.
Making our way through a thicket of trees we at last reached the top of
the hill, and choosing our position carefully, were gratified by the subjoined
view of the northern part of Ribblesdale.
In the bottom, and at our feet, ran the Calder — a sweet bubbling stream.
Carrying the eye to the right, we passed the sole street, a curved one, of the
village of Whalley. Just above it, in the same direction, runs the road to
Manchester. Wiswall Moor then rises up, with the mansion of Clark HiU,
the residence of Mr. Whalley. But wiU old Pendle look on us? Wait; yes,
the mist is gone, you now see his hunchback, and, further to the left, his brawny
nose. Well may the inhabitants of the country be proud of this splendid
hill. It is one of those which are celebrated in the following rude distich:
** Pendlehill and Pennygent, and UUle Ingleborough,
Are three such bills as youMI not find by searching England thorough."
LANCASHIRE. 195
Follow Pendle as he runs suddenly down, and before you get to his base
you meet with Langridge Fell, a descriptive name, for it is a long ridge and
high. Immediately in front of Langridge stands the princely Stonyhurst,
with its fine new chapel and new Beminary. In a line stretching south, in
the midst of the scene, is Clithero Castle, placed on a piece of limestone rock
heaved abruptly out of the BiuTounding plain. Bring your eye back to the
river and you are again at Wballey, the church lying to the north east, the
body of the abbey on the margin of the Calder below, and its north-west
entrance on your extreme left. A finer champaign country, hills with nobler
sweeps, objects of deeper interest, you have rarely seen. You there behold
the type of almost all the states of civilization that our country has passed
through down to the present. The church may carry your mind back to the
period when our forefathers worshipped stocks and stones; for where it stands
there was, beyond a doubt, a Saxon church, since, agreeably to the instructions
196 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
of Pope Gregory, Augustin and his associates, who brought over the island
to Christianity, were accustomed to convert the old Pagan edifices to the
purposes of the new religion, or to supplant them when decayed by buildings
raised on the same spot. Clithero reminds us of the Norman Barons and the
days of chivalry — Stonyhurst, of new Roman Catholicism ; and the Abbey of
the old. What changes has old Pendle there witnessed, ^^ himself unchanged;"
what joyous shows and sad arrays, " knightes fair and ladies gay;" splendid
retinues of gallant chevaliers, a hawking; country gentlemen, well fed and
thick, a hunting; the cowl and the crown; the bridal festivity, and "the pass-
ing bell;" horse dashed against horse, and man breasting man!! — ^but there
is no end of the story, so we will at once stop with a sigh and a " so passes
away the world's glory:" only we beg the courteous reader to observe, that it
was glory. " The dark ages," forsooth! It is time we knew enough to eschew
these vulgar prejudices. We believe and grant that chemistry was not known,
nor animal magnetism. The world suffered for want of the first; but how
much it was better off by knowing nought of the second, and a herd of other
kindred " sciences," we wiU not attempt to determine ; nor will we affirm that
" the days of old" were better than the present; enough for us that they are
allowed to have had their light and done their work, and contributed some- i^/
thing to the ever increasing volume of human good.
If, however, you would find some things to put into the scale against the
e\ils of by-gone times, you need only seat yourself on that coach — the
emblem of that important and disdainful abstraction, "the present times;" you
will soon be in Manchester, and may in a few hours find more sorrows than
you wiU like to witness.
We did our duty that morning at the breakfast table. Mountain air and
a long walk are excellent sharpeners of the appetite. So good a breakfast
naturally reminded us of dinner; the rather as we intended to labour till
nightfall for the special benefit of the reader.
" Let us," we said, to the comely mistress of the house, " have a couple of
chickens and a bit of bacon for dinner, at six o'clock."
" I have," she replied, " plenty of bacon, but no fowls."
" What! no poultry in this country place?"
"No, sir ; was there time, I could get it by sending to Manchester or Preston."
" What! send from here to Manchester for poultry! Why I thought they
were born and bred here?"
" Yes, sir, but like our girls and boys, they are off as soon as they can run."
" Times are changed!" we added, " and we must do as well as we can."
" Beg your pardon, sir," she added, looking with all her eyes, " what did
you say you woidd have instead?"
" O anything ;" but I merely remarked it was not so in the days of the
monks ; there was no lack of fowls in Whalley under their reign.
Quitting our inn, we first made a survey of the village. " What a small
place," said our companion.
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" Yes ; but this is the mere village."
Whalley is a name which once covered, and indeed still covers, a vast
extent of ground. The word Whalley, in its Saxon original, signifies the
Field of Wells, an allusion to its more restricted locality, as placed " ux>on the
skirts of Pendle." Whalley is a parish, township, and village, in the hundred
and wapentake of Blackburn, and the honor of Clithero. It is the largest
parish in the county, and one of the most considerable in the kingdom. It
contains forty-seven townships; has an area of one hundred and eighty square
miles, or nearly a ninth part of Lancashire. The original parish, from its
formation about a. d. 6S8, to its dismemberment before 1220, comprised the
parishes of Blackburn, Rochdale, Ribchester, Chipping, Mitton, and Slaid-
bum, an area of four hundred square miles. The original of the church there
was founded about a.d. 628, rebuilt 1100, and in the fifteenth century dedi-
cated to All Saints. The parish church was at first styled " the White Church
under the Leigh." The early clergymen were styled deans, not as now,
vicars; but the church has suffered both in honour and in emolimients by
being under the shade of the abbey.
But let us enter the venerable pile. The interior is in keeping with what
^ you have already seen. There is the nave, there the choir; here are side
• aisles, and above, the galleries ; notice also that neatly carved screen. But if
^ you would see splendid carving, turn to this lofty pew, which stands like a
f^ monarch apart from the vulgar herd. It was built in 1610 by Roger Nowell,
u'' of Read Hall. You see on it the inscription :
f J F IT
R M
These cyphers record a sort of judicial decision. The first set signify John
i Fort of Read; the second John Taylor of Morton. The pew belonged of old
I to the Hall, but the father of Mr. Fort and the uncle of Mr. Taylor are said
[ to have consented to divide it. This Mr. Fort would not consent to, alleging
it went with his property. A reference was made to the Bishop of Chester,
who decided it should be divided ; and tradition says, the then clerk tossed up
\ a penny, in order to determine which of the two should have the preference
in choosing his side. The inscription on the mural monument is elegant. It
was composed by the Rev. Thomas Wilson, late Master of Clithero Grammar
School. It is, you see, in memory of Elizabeth, wife of James Whalley, Esq.
of Clark Hill, daughter of Dr. Assheton, of Manchester:
Here sleeps Eliza — lei the marble tell
How jfoung, bow sudden, and how dear she fell;
How bles8*d and blessing in the nuptial tie>
How fonn*d for every gentle sympathy.
Her life, by Ht^ven approved, by earth admired,
Amidst the brightest happine&s — eipired.
Short was the nuptial gleam, the hour that gave
A parent's nome consigned her to the grave.
198 ENGLAND IV THE NIKETEKNTH CENTrRY :
And left lier huilund Gi'd in grief lo mourn,
Widow'd of all ber virtum-oer her urn.
Yet whilst he fe«t> and bendi bennth Lh« rod,
Meek reiignation lifti bli efe [o God,
And (hewi vitliin the blot, eternal iphere.
The pinner of lit) bosom sainted there.
He bowi, and breathe* (so Fsith hu trim'd her ton),
" Great Sovereign of the world — Th]> will be done."
Those stalls are beautiful ; they were taken from
the abbey, and are at least four hundred years
old. We give a delineation of the Abbot's
stall.
There are four stalls (but destitute of the
fine work above the choir, these four also taken
from the Abbey) in Blackburn church. This
seat, where sat the abbot, will repay your atten-
tion. Mark the admirable carving, and the old
letters. The subject is a man forcibly shoeing
a goose. These holy men seemed to have loved
a joke. This is the inscription:
Whoio melleii of wit men dot,
Ijel h^m cum hier iiid ihoe the gho*.
"Which may be rendered thus, keeping the spirit
of the original :
That fuol to shoe ■ goon ibotild trj
Who poke* hit nose in eicb nun's pie.
Oq another seat are these
!Latin words:
Semper giudentn lint iiU sede
In the vemacidar tongue :
Guod luck betide <rou ill
That tit within this itall.
The seats in other stalls are
similarly decorated. Here
is a singular one: a figure,
part man and part beast,
making love to an unwilling female; the expression on both faces how cha-
racteristic; he labours to win, she is determined to repulse. That inscription,
carved on the side of the pew, is simple and touching:
Ornle pro inima Tlionw Ciwe Monachi.
" Pray for the soul of Father Thomas." Of a similar character is the stone
over the remains of Faslew, the last abbot:
Jeiu, Fili Dei, Miserl mei. J. P.
LANCASHIRE. 199
Need had he of pity on high, for he found none below. Having been con-
cerned in an insurrection designed to resist the proceedii^ of Henry VIII.
against religious houses, he was convicted of high-treason at Lancaster, and
executed in his native place, March 13, 1536-7.
Over that pew against the wall is not the least curious piece of antiquity;
a brass plate, with father and mother and twenty children, nine boys and
eleven girls. Be
careful, or you
will hardly make
out the inscrip-
tion. It is how-
ever the old story,
" a family pic-
ture." The date is
1515. "RaffeCat-
terall, Esquyer,
and Elizabeth hys
wyfe," had long
disappeared from
the church. Dr. Whitaker, however, had a good antiquarian nose, and found
the plate in Garstang church. It is now replaced; and there it is, in what is
termed Little Mitton Chapel.
Before we leave, go and observe that very fine window, executed in a
masterly style of workmanship, at the east end of the church. All tixe titleB
are in old black letter. The omanmental paintings are various. Next to
Dr. Whitaker's coat-of-arms, near the top of the window, is the rebus of
Ashton — an ash in a tun; on the opposite side is that of Bolton — a bolt in a
tun. The four Apostles are in the four central compartments. At the top of
the compartment on the left is the Lancastrian rose, crowned upon four azure
leaves; and corresponding on the r^ht is the portcullis, crowned on an azure
ground. Immediately beneath the window stands a beautiful picture of our
Saviour by Northcote, presented as an altar-piece by Adam Cottam of Whalley,
who had previously given a £ne-toned organ.*
Quitting the church we proceeded to our inn, in order to make preparations
for visiting the Abbey. It was a Cistertian establishment.
The Cistertians were a branch of the Benedictines, and denominated Cis-
tcrtians, &om Cistertium, the Latin name for Cisteaux in Biirgundy, where
the order was instituted a.d. 1098, by Robert, abbot of Molesme. The order
was brought into repute in England by Stephen Harding, an Englishman,
third abbot of Cisteaux, who on that account is considered the principal founder.
They were also called White Monks, from the colour of their garments, which
were a white cassock with a narrow scapulary, and over that a black gown
200 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY I
worn when they went ahroad^ but a white one when they went to church.
Their monasteries^ which became very numerous in a short time, were gene-
rally founded in solitary and uncultivated places; nor is it now easy to say
how much they contributed to redeem from their abandoned and unfruitful
condition the large tracts of country given them in the north east of Lan-
cashire. Their houses were dedicated to the Virgin.
These monks came into England in 1128, and had their first house at
Waverley in Surrey. Before the violent dissolution of religious houses under
Henry VIII., they numbered eighty -five establishments in this kingdom.
The depredations committed by Henry VIII., were certainly of a regal mag-
nitude. Tanner, in his Notitia Manaatica,* tells us that no fewer than 608
establishments, having the annual income of 140,785/., were destroyed and
devoured by him and his courtiers. But even this legalized plunder we could
forgive them, in comparison of the devastations in art and antiqidty which
they ruthlessly perpetrated.
Immediately after the suppression, under Henry VIII., of the minor
religious houses (those whose net income was under 200/. a year) two re-
bellions broke out, which in their issue and more indirect results hastened
and facilitated the downfall of the rest. The first was in Lincolnshire, where
Dr. Makerel, disguised like a cobbler, and calling himself Captaiin Cobbler,
drew after him a great body of men, who were dispersed by the Duke of
Sufiblk. Within six days the second broke out, in Yorkshire. It was
designated " The Pilgrimage of Grace." This grew to be very formidable,
and was not easily put down. The part taken in this outbreak by Paslew,
then abbot of Whalley, was the immediate occasion of the suppression of the
house over which he presided.
In 1172, John Constable of Chester, founded a monastery of Cistertians at
Stanlaw in Cheshire. But it little merited die name he gave it, of Locus
Benedictus, the situation being low and unpleasant, and liable to floods both
from die river and the sea. The monks, with true native instinct, looked
abroad for a better site. Whalley was the object of their choice, a place as
they describe it — " greatly convenient for a habitation."t What indeed could
they well want more than they found here ? The glebe was fertile, warm and
spacious; the fishery extensive and productive; the forests frdl of excellent
game; and withal the patron bountifrd. Whalley was even then venerable for
ecclesiastical antiquity, it now became distinguished as the seat of a splendid
monastic institution; *' which continued," says its historian, '^ for two centuries
and a half to exercise unbounded hospitality and charity, to adorn the site
which had been chosen with a succession of magnificent buildings, to protect
die tenants of its ample domains in the enjoyment of independence and
* ** Notitia Monastics, or an Account of all the Abbies, Priories, and Houses of Friers formerly in
England and Wales," etc. etc. 1767, p. '23 of tbe Preface,
f ** Habitation! admodum idoneum.*'
«
4
LANCASHIRE. 201
plenty, to employ, clothe, feed, and pay many labourers, herdsmen, and
shepherds, to exercise the arts, and cultivate the learning of the times;" the
arts unsurpassable, if the learning was obscure — ^yet though obscure, still
useful, as the seed in the soil.
The claims upon the hospitality of the establishment were great. The
peculiar situation of Whalley, almost at an equal distance between Manchester
and Lancaster, in the great route of pilgrims from north to south, rendered
these demands no little oppressive. Nor were the largesses inconsiderable
which its Superiors bestowed. Strange, yet characteristic of the times ! shew-
ing who then had the upper hand — ^the nobility and gentry of the county
received pensions from the monks. Some curious feu^ts are preserved in
accounts of the receipts and disbursements of die establishment. Under the
head "given away,"* occur the names of many of the chief families of
the county as recipients, and an ancestor of the Stanleys, Lord Stanley,
stands convicted of having accepted the sum of 6/. ISs. 4d. And curious to
note, just before is a record, stating how that 4s, had been given to four
friars. Yes, the lord's influence at the court in London was worth far more
than that of even four friars in the court of Heaven! Between these two
items stands one, 86s. Id. for minstrels! — 4s. for charity; 86s. for music;
188*. for ambition ! We fear these holy men, do what they could, were after
all unable to keep the world out of their heads, and satan out of their hearts.
But what shall we say, when we learn that even the boisterous and cruel
sports of the bear garden were not unknown to them? Plenty of good
venison does it appear they eat, since the forests in general were theirs at
a period when a large part of the country was nothing but forest. Evidences
also appear in these accounts of the gradual relaxation of discipline. Travel-
ling was a great luxury to monks; and the last abbot, Paslew, seems to have
spent most of his time abroad. Li 1504, the mean consumption of the Abbey
in wine was eight pipes per annum, besides white wine; about a bottle a-day
to each monk! Then of malt 150 quarters were annually brewed; nor was
there any lack of other substantials, wheat 200 quarters. Merely for the abbot's
table were slaughtered each year seventy-five oxen, eighty sheep, forty calves,
twenty lambs, and four porkers. For the refectory and inferior tables, fifty-
seven oxen, forty sheep, twenty calves, ten lambs ; the total number of mouths
was 120. Certainly they must have been well employed. Nor could so
large a proportion of animal food have been anything but detrimental to
health. Fasting would indeed be necessary from time to time — ^if only to
gain an appetite. But health would require it in the case of men who fed so
grossly, especially since cleanliness was not within the virtues recognised by
the order; for, to quote Dr. Whitaker, " they had no sheets to their beds, nor
shirts to their backs, and they slept in their ordinary dresses of woollen;" nor
did they frequent the bath. " In us," he adds, " it would produce a strange
* De doDis.
s D
L
V
202 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
mixture of feelings to be repelled from the convcrsatioii of a man of learning
or elegance by stench and vermin,"
The monastery was not erected at once, but by degrees, as the house
found resources. The original cost was 3000/., at a time when the wages of
an artisan were twopence a-day, when much of the timber used in the erection
was obtained in the newhbouring woods, and when the stone was supplied
in abundance near at band in the quarries of Read and Lymstone. There
could be no difficulty in obtaining labourers, for the people were serfe.
Gregory de Norbury, the abbot who died in 1309, made merchandise of his
property in the native families, and conveyed the transfer of one of them in
the following terms, which we cite aa being a curiosity to Englishmen.
" To all, etc., Gregory, Abbot of the Convent of Whalley, etc., health.
You shall know that we for ourselves and each of our successors have given,
granted, and delivered to our beloved in Christ, John G. and bis assignees
R. son of I. son of A. de W., our native, with all bis family and all his effects,
for 100 shillings sterling, to us by the said John delivered and paid ; so that
the said John with all his family be free, discharged, and quit of all challenge;
so that neither we nor our successors, for the futiu'e, shall be able to claim
any right in the aforesaid, on account of his nativity, saving to us our right
and challenge with respect to any others our natives. In witness whereof, we
have affixed our seals."
In order to give the visitor of the abbey a just idea of these interesting
remains, and make him in-
dependent of ignorant or
misinformed guides," we
ask him to bear us company
from our inn to the ruin.
Proceeding in a westerly
direction, winding to the
left, we soon came upon
the spot. You enter by
a noble archway. A still
more stately gateway, the
outer entrance, lies 200
yards to the north west in
' advance. On passing within
the incloBure, you see oppo-
site to you an old respecta-
ble-looking house. Thiswas
the abbot's own abode. It
was renovated and inhabited by the Asshetons. A suite of rooms used to be
• C*eii BaincG, in liii " HUtory orLdiicuhire," ii incorrect «heD be lanaorqUDting Whiukcr.
LANCASHIKE.
reserved here for the occasional residence of Earl Howe. His Ixirdship, not
long since, sold a portion of the ahbey remains to John Taylor, Esq., of
Morton House, whose tenant, Mr. Hargreaves, is the present occupant.
Notice that handsome flight of steps; and see over the door, the Whalley
arms. And now say, do you not join in the indignation which we felt when,
some time ago, we first surveyed this comparatively modem building? What!
must everything in this country be appropriated ? Cannot Englishmen con-
template even the ruins of the land — of their own land, without having the
idea of mine and thine thrust before them ?
We make no apology for this warmth, because we care not to have you as
a companion unless you " feel it too." You see yonder small gate to the right.
Let us try if we can get
through it without being
apprehended as trespassers.
Well, you now hehold be-
fore you the remains of the
Chapter-house and Vestry;
mark those three beautiful
arches, and tell me were
men ignorant or ill -em-
ployed who could give birth
to such work.
Mark the sward you
tread on — how deep and
rich the green! That cherry
tree on the left has the re-
putation of being the finest
in England. What soil too
have we here — how full of
vegetable matter ! — the product and gifk of ages of cultivation. Ixiok at the
ivy — ^what splendid branches and width of leaf! those old ivy roots too; did
you ever see any so fine? Let us pace the distance between these two walls.
The divisions by which different apartments were once made, have been
destroyed; and now what a fine double arcade! Fifty yards in length! The
last generation made use of this place for their rustic balls and other amuse-
ments. Now pass through the arches you have admired ; you are in the
Clobter Court. Not a vestige of the church is now left; though it is true you
may by digging and close inspection, discover the foundations of the parts
which have perished, and trace out the whole area of the Close; it contained
thirty-six acres, three roods, and fourteen poles.
The spot on which you are standing was the monks' cemetery. Turn to
your left, towards the river, and you behold the remains of a tomb; what a
span the arch has, eighteen feet at the least! Truly these monks were as
splendid in their burials as in their hospitalities.
204 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
A different sight will strike your eyes if you look at these corbels just at
your back in the chapter-house building. What! even near their tombs and
under the wing of their church, to shew that they could unite the grotesque
with the lascivious, as well as the sublime with the tender.
Follow us through that old door. This garden looks well ; there is the
river. Tate care you do not slip &oin the plank. Well, you have crossed
the Calder, What a fine row of old yew trees! Listen to the noise from
yonder rookery. There is a beautiful bit of dilapidated wall and broken
arches ; we must sketch that.
This was the abbot's pri-
vate chapel. Good man!
he performed his devo-
tions very near his kitchen,
for there it is. Pray pace
the length of those three
splendid fireplaces. What
smoking hecatombs were
here ofiTered up! Before
you leave, cast your eyes
in the direction of the
river, towards the east; is
that not a fine view? How
tranquil is every thing —
air, water, meadows, moun-
tains. But for the cawing of
these rooks, some of whose
voices sound so hoarse as to
make you think they were contemporaneous with the monks, one would hardly
have a consciousness of life.
A hermitage once existed near the monastery, too near probably for the
morals of its holy inhabitants. Under the general description of a recluse,
votaries of both sexes were included. The lady hermits, however, do not
appear to have been always spotless in their lives. Of such a character was
Isold de Heton. A representation of her conduct was made to the king, from
which we cite as follows :
" Be hit remembryd that the please and babitacion of the seid recluse is within
place halowed and nere to the gate of the seyd monastre, and that the
weemen that have been attendyng to the seyd recluse have rccorse
dailly into the aeyd monastre for the levere of brede, ale, kychin and
other thyngs : the whyche is not accordying to be had withyn such
religyouB plases : and bow that dyvers that been anchores in the seyd
plase have broken owte and departed : and in especyal how that now
Isold of Heton is broken owte, and so livyng at her own liberte by this
LANCASHIRE. SOS
two yere and mor, like as she had never bin professyd ; — and that divers
of the wymen that have been servants there, have byn miHgovemyd and
gotten with chyld within the seyd plase halowyd, to the great displea-
saunce of hurt and disclander of the abbeye aforeseyd," etc.
The consequence was the hermitage was dissolved by letters patent, and
two chaplains appointed in its place, whose business it was to say mass daily
in rtie church for the soul of Duke Henry of Lancaster, who had endowed
the establishment. The hermitage, however, had been useful in ita day.
We took a chaise, determined to make the most of our time, and ordered
the postillion to drive to Clithero. On leaving Whalley we passed a pleasing
house on our right hand, rode through an interesting country, admired the
frowning aspect of Fendle on the east, left on the same side a printing estab-
lishment with its tall chimney, and soon came in sight of Clithero Castle,
which appeared directly in our front, rising at once out of the plain as if cast
up by some sadden volcanic force.
We were soon at its base, as it lies on the south side of the town towards
which our course lay. No site can be well conceived to exist in a plain more
fitted, either for self-defence or for harbouring assailants, in the days when
cannons were not, and gunpowder yet existed only in " the harmless bowels
of the earth." The keep — which is nearly all that now remains — stands on
the summit of a small precipitous limestone rock, and with a few brave men
must have been impregnable. The crags of the rock partly covered with
small trees, partly embrowned by the atmosphere, — now covered, now boldly
jutting out — here overrun with roots, the source of whose nourishment it is not
easy to conjecture — there left bare and exposed to the weather, looking not
206 ENGLAND IN THB NINETEENTH CENTURY :
unlike the hard, worn and furrowed countenance of a sexagenarian mariner,—
presented objects of pleasing meditation, and awakened more thoughts and
feelings than we can stop to record. Being without a guide, we followed in
vain more than one narrow gravelled walk that seemed to promise a path into
the enclosure. Still we did not lose our trouble, as it gave us an opportunity
of surveying the surrounding country, much to our gratification.
Arrived within the Castle, as it is termed, we found a comparatively
modem building where the castle should have been, with coach-house,
stables, and every other appurtenance that can betoken substance and comfort.
We inquired fruitlessly for this and for that, recorded in topographical works,
finding, after the most careftd search, nothing but the Keep. What created
most disappointment was to discover, instead of an antique chapel, an attor-
ney's office belonging to the proprietor of the house, Mr. Dixon Robinson,
and a sort of petty court-house, in which the wapentake court for the Black-
bume hundred is held. The keep is a mere ruin, with grouted walls of huge
thickness, which being interspersed with shrubs, and flanked by Pendle,
presents some interesting views. A flight of broken stairs still remain in it,
which are used occasionally for hoisting a flag; but owing to an accident
which a boy suffered in climbing, they are generally kept closed by a door.
The borough of Clithero comprehends about 28,000 acres. The pic-
turesque Kibble runs on the west from north to south, and the Lancashire
Calder — ^^ the forked Calder" — descending by Whalley, falls into the Ribble
below Little Mitton; while Mearley and Herethom brooks, uniting beneath
Clithero on the south, yield their tributary streams to the Ribble at Low
Moor; and in wet seasons, Chatbum brook (Chatbum lies higher up the
stream on the Yorkshire border), issuing from the wild fissures of Pendle
Hill, increases the Ribble below Chatbum. Thus situated, Clithero is appro-
priately named, the word signifying the Hill by the Waters. Limestone
abounds in the neighbourhood; and there are many limekilns. There is a
petrifying spring near the Ribble, and a sulphur spring at Shaw-brook» In
the vicinity are large cotton -spinning, weaving, and calico-printing works.
The town being built of stone, has a cold but not uninteresting aspect, and
seems to be a place of considerable trade. The Lacies possessed Clithero.
Of Norman origin, they came over with the Conqueror, and obtained as their
share of the booty sixty knights' fees, principally in the counties of Lancaster,
York, and Lincoln. For the maintenance of these possessions they built two
castles; one at Pontefract, the baronial residence, the other here at Clithero.
Tlie male line of this family became extinct in 1193. The possessions passed
to Richard Fitz-Eustace, lord of Halton and constable of Chester, whose son
John founded the abbey of Stanlaw, the parent of Whalley. The honor of
Clithero afterwards passed by marriage into the hands of Thomas Plantagenet,
Earl of Lancaster, who rebelling against Edward II., was executed at Ponte-
fract for high treason. The attainder having been reversed, the property fell
LANCASHIRE. 207
to Henry Duke of Lancaster^ and from him went to John of Gaunt^ in right
of his wife. His son became Henry IV., on which the honor of Clithero
vested in the crown, remaining so till Charles II. gave it as a reward to
General Monk. From him it passed, hy the bequest of his son's second wife,
to Ralph Duke of Montague, and thence came into possession of the Buccleugh
family: the Duke of Buccleugh has that portion of the honor which lies
north of the Ribble, and his brother. Lord Montague, that to the south. The
old domain was kept entire from the time of the donation to Monk ; but the
forest of Bowland has been lately sold by the Duke of Buccleugh to Mr.
Towneley of Towneley. In the early period of the Commonwealth, Clithero
castle was dismantled by order of parliament. The work of destruction has
been going on ever since. Its stones contributed to build the mansion which
stands within the precincts: not long since materials were taken from it to
erect an inn. The lower part of the walls are much dilapidated, and though
the place is still strong, must ere many years be undermined by the action of
natural agencies, and &11 to irretrievable decay.
Among the mural monuments in the church is one inscribed on a brass
plate to the memory of Dr. John Webster, the astrologer, and the intrepid
detector of witchcraft, who was master of the Free School in Clithero in 1643,
and died 1682. The monument is embellished by a horoscope, in which it is
sapiendy indicated that they who tmderstand the diagram will understand
that the doctor understood it. We know not what methods Doctor Webster
may have pursued in his business of witch-finding, and should hope that a
man of learning was above the ordinary arts that were practised. Butler
alludes to some of these, referring to one Matthew Hopkins, of great celebrity
in his day:
Has not the present Parliament
A ledger to the devil sent.
Fully empowered to treat about
Finding revolted witches out?
And has not he, within a year»
Hang*d threescore of 'em in a shire?
Some only for not being drown*d ;
And some for sitting above ground.
In 1649 the magistrates of Newcastle-upon-Tyne sent into Scotland with a
view of making a bargain with a Scotchman, who professed the art of finding
out witches. His plan was the simple one of pricking them with pins. The
magistrates agreed to give this disgraceful practitioner twenty shillings a piece
for all he could condenm; and, moreover, bear his travelling expenses. On
his arrival the bellman was sent through the town to invite persons to bring
the suspected forward. Thirty women were led into the town-hall, stripped,
and subjected to the test; twenty-seven were found guilty. One wizard and
fourteen witches were, on this evidence, tried at the assizes, convicted, and
executed.*
* Bland*s Popular Antiquities, vol. ii.
208 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
A more pleasing memorial is the monument by Westmacott, with an
elaborate inscription, erected at the expense of his pupils, in honour of
Thomas Wilson, for nearly forty years head-master of the Clithero Grammar
School.
A hospital for lepers, called the Hospital of Edisforth, stood within this
borough, but shared the fate of the smaller monasteries in the reign of
Henry VIH.
A gallant stand was made at Clithero against the invaders under the com-
mand of William, son of the bastard brother of David king of Scotland, in
1138. The English were defeated.
In the Grammar School an annual present at Shrovetide is expected from
the scholars, varying in amount according to the circumstances of the parents.
With the exception of this Cock Penny y the school is free. The origin of this
custom it is now difficult to trace. Shrove Tuesday, indeed, was a sad day
for cocks. Cock-fighting, and throwing at cocks, were among its barbarous
sports. School-boys used to bring game-cocks to their master, and delight
themselves in cock-fighting all the forenoon. In Scotland, the masters pre-
sided at the fight, and claimed the runaway cocks, called Fugees, as their
perquisites. " The cock penny" may have been the substitute devised by
a less cruel age for the ordinary gratuity.
James King, captain in the Royal Navy, the friend and companion of
Captain Cook in his third voyage of circumnavigation, the second son of Dr.
James King, was bom at Clithero during his father's curacy there in 1750.
The £Eimily of Sir William Dugdale, the celebrated antiquary, had their
origin in Clithero. John, the father of Sir William, was matriculated at
St. John's College Oxford, by the name of ^' John Dugdale, a Lancashire man
borne."
Passing through Clithero, we crossed the Ribble and came to Waddow
Hall, standing on the Yorkshire side of the river. This is an old building
modernised. Its site is transcendently beautiful, lying at the foot of an
eminence covered with trees, having in front a fine sloping lawn, at the
bottom of which the Ribble dashes, while on the high ground, on the Lan-
cashire side of the river, fine well-wooded sweeps present themselves, which
are crowned by Clithero with its square keep, and in the distance by the
never-failing Pendle. The country is rich, covered with fine trees, and will
in itself well repay the visitor. Something besides natural beauty, however,
we confess had drawn us to the spot.
The first question we put on entering the hall was, " Where is Peggy ?"
the answer was given by a neat, intelligent young woman, to whose obliging
manners — as her master, Jeremiah Gamett, Esq., had gone to a hunt held in
Craven that day, we were much indebted.
" Peg o' th' Well, you mean, sir, I suppose."
" Yes."
LANCASHIRE. 209
" 0, I have lately brought her out of those gloomy rooms at the top of
the house, washed her face, and she now lives in the larder." She uttered
these last worda with an arch expression of look and word, which told us that
my informant was far beyond the weakness of ordinary superstitious fears.
" Pray let me see her," we added. We were conducted into a large
bright-looking pantry, and there in truth was Peggy's head. It lay — bearing
on the neck marks of violence — with the features upward, on a long table,
shining with a purity and cleanness like the atmosphere of the locality.
" Does she ever plague you now ? "
" No, sir ; there is not a better girl in all the parish. I fear she was
much slandered."
" And where is her body ?"
" By yon well i' th' field. Would you like to see what we servants call
Pegg's Place?"
" Certainly." We were accordingly conducted up to an attic floor con-
sisting of several apartments, filled with fishing tackle, rubbish, etc. This
was evidently a part of the house that the hand of modern improvement had
spared.
" Does your master fish then ? " we asked.
" O yes, he Ls very fond of it, and very fine salmon (and plenty too) he
often gets."
"And 80 here Peggy lived?" we said, looking, as directed, into a small
dark room.
" Yes, here I found her. They told me many strange tales about her, and
warned me against having aught to do with her — but I ne*cr heeded *em, and
took her down stairs."
210 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
Peggy's story is in substance as follows :
The old religion had been supplanted in most parts of the county, yet had
left memorials of itself and its rites in no few places, nor least in those which
were in the vicinity of an old Catholic family, or a monastic institution.
Some such relic may Peggy originally have been. The scrupulous pro-
prietors of Waddow Hall regarded the innocuous image with distrust and
aversion, nor did they think themselves otherwise than justified in ascribing
to Peggy all the evils and mischances that befel in the house. If a storm
struck and damaged the house, Peggy was the author of the damage. If the
wind whistled or moaned through the ill-fitting doors and casements, it was
" Peggy at her work," requiring to be appeased, else some sad accident was
sure to come. On one occasion. Master Starkie — so was the host named —
returned home very late with a broken leg. He had been hunting that day,
and report said made too free with the ale afterwards. But, as usual, Peggy
bore the blame; from some dissatisfaction she had waylaid the master of the
house, and caused his horse to fall. Even this was forgiven. A short time
after, a Puritan preacher was overtaken by a fresh in the river in attempting
to cross over on the *^ steppin' stones," which lay just above the hall — the
very stones on which poor King Henry was captured. Now Mistress Starkie
had a great attachment to those preachers; and had indeed sent for the one
in question, for him to exorcise and dispossess her youngest son, a boy of ten
years of age, who was grievously afflicted with a demon, or as was suspected,
tormented by Peggy. " Why does he not come?" asked the lady, as she sat
that night in her best apparel, before a blazing fire, and near a well-frimished
table. '^ The storm seems to get worse. Hark, heard ye no cry ? Yes ! there
again ! Oh, if the dear man is in the river. Run all of ye to his rescue !"
In a few minutes two lusty men-servants returned, panting imder the huge
weight of the dripping parson. He told his tale. " 'Tis Peg," she suddenly
exclaimed, *' at her old tricks ; this way, all !" She hurried from the apart-
ment, rushed into the garden, where Peggy stood quiet enough, near a spring,
and with one blow of an axe, which she had seized in her passage, severed
Peggy's head from her body.*
* Our authority for introduciDg into the above iketch, a Puritan minister, may be found in acme
old tracts, the titles of which are given in vol. i. p. 507, of " British Topography/' of which, for the
sake of illustration, we transcribe as follows :
'* The Surry Demoniack; or, an account of Satan's strange and dreadful actions in and about the
body of Richard Dugdale* of Surrey, near Whalley in Lancashire; and how he was dispossessed by
God's blessing, on the fastings and prayers of divers ministers and people. The matter of fact attested
by the oath of several creditable persons, before some of his Migesty's justices of the peace in the said
county. 1607, 410." ^ The Puritan party," adds the learned compiler, ** being the dupes, and charged
with being the managers, were attacked in * The Surry Impostor ; being an answer to a late fanatical
pamphlet, entitled 'The Surry Demoniack.' By Zach. Taylor, A.M., and one of the King's preachers
for the county palatine of Lancaster. 1697, 4to." Other publications ensued, conceived in a very angry
tone, see the work before cited ; also in the same, p. 504, vol. i., for a no less gross imposture in the
year 1600.
LANCABHIBE. SI 1
The iDterior of Waddow Hall presenta little to the antiquarian. The rooms
are good, but of modem aspect. Some superior family pictures hang in the
dining-room ; we may mention one of Mr. Weddel, to whom the place formerly
belonged, and one of a lady, by Mercier, 1742, who died in consequence of
pricking her finger while engaged in sewing, the implements for which she
holds in her hands. There are also some good fancy pictures: cupids with
wreaths of flowers; cupids at play, etc., in which the attitudes are admirable,
and the light and shade well contrasted. Other paintings may be found in
the drawing and in the green room.
On leaving the house we were consigned by Peggy's Mend, Jane, to the
care of " the keeper." The dignity, we found, was home by a short spare old
man, whose legs and long gaiters had not for many years come into contact.
His civility, however, was better than his appointments. He took us to
Peggy's Well, or rather fountain; shewed us the Weir, lying a little down the
river; pointed out " Bungerley Hippin Stones," stones for fording the river,
where Henry VI. was taken; and above all excited our curiosity by remarking
that " if ould James Driver were heer, he cud tell yea summut." "We
questioned the worthy keeper, and learned that the story was a legend of the
devil upon the dun-horse. Particulars, however, our informant could not
give ; restrained to all appearance by a species of superstitious fear. At this
moment, however, James Driver appeared in sight — a tall, bony, but emaciated
person, who had seen some eighty years. After accosting him, and getting his
tongue fairly in motion, we learned the substance of the following narrative.
The spot where the public-house once was, bearing the sign which com-
memorated the
event, old James
pointed out to
us as we stood
in Waddow
grounds. It lies
just above the
bridge we had*
passed in cross-
ing the Bibble.
In his early days
our aged firiend
had often seen
the sign.
The story has a truly Lancashire flavour, savouring as it does of that rude
wit and broad practical joking for which the native peasantry are still cha-
racterised. The idea of having outwitted the " ould on'," doubtless, in former
days, endangered many a good stout pair of ribs.
" Nicholas Gosford was a tailor by trade, and in times gone by, occupied
212 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
part of the house whose locality we have described. Nicholas was honesty for
he cabbaged only a quarter of the cloth entrusted to him, and goodnatured,
but he had a great fault, that of being too fond of drink. The money which
should have supplied him and his wife with the necessaries of life never could
get past the door of the Spread Eagle, so that Nicholas was always miserably
poor. One evening as he, with some of his drunken companions, was sitting
at the kitchen fire of the Spread Eagle, a stranger was announced. He was
bronzed by travel, and indeed he had seen much of the world, for many were
the wonderful tales he told the astonished villagers. In course of conversation
he mentioned a yoimg man of Lower Saxony who had gained immense riches
through the devil, and told them the incantations he had used. This appeared
to strike Nicholas greatly, for he dropped several hints about it afterwards.
The next morning, taking advantage of his wife's absence at a neighbour's, he
performed the wonderful operation, and the tempter, with two attendant imps,
stood before him. With a terrific voice he asked Nicholas what he wanted
with him. The poor tailor in a fright declared that he wanted nothing. The
demon in a rage said that he would punish him most severely if he did uot
tell him what he raised him for. Nicholas then exclaimed, * Make me rich,
my lord.' ^ Now you speak reasonably,' said the demon : * I will give you three
wishes, which must be the first that either your wife or yourself make after
you meet; but for this you must give me your soul at the end of twenty years ! '
Nicholas would fain have refused, but on the attendant devils beginning to
torture him, he assented, and the bond was written with his blood, and regu-
larly signed and sealed. When his wife came back, she could give him
nothing but oat-cake and butter for his tea. Nicholas could not eat, and his
wife observed, * I wish we had a nice backstone of our own, for I can bake
much better cakes than I can buy.' A good backstone was immediately placed
on the fire by some invisible hand. Nicholas flew in a passion, and wished it
was broken into a thousand pieces. It was immediately done. Nicholas now
revealed the whole story to his wife, who requested him to consult the Prior
of Whalley. He refused to do this, saying, * They would burn me for having
intercourse with the devil, and -it is better to go to hell in twenty years than
directly.* The next moniing when Nicholas got up he saw that he wanted to
shave very badly, and he said, * I wish I had a can of warm water here.' A
can was immediately placed on the table, and Nicholas was as far from riches
as ever. In despair, he and his wife consulted what they should do, and they
resolved to ask the Hermit of Pendle, whom Nicholas had once saved from
drowning, to give them his advice. He did so ; and the hermit told him to
lead a reformed life, and be assured that God would not forsake one who had
served him faithfully. Time rolled rapidly on. Nicholas reformed in cha-
racter, became the father of two children, a boy and a girl. His business
increased, and he was employed by the first families of the neighbourhood.
But at last the time came, and the hermit of Pendle and Nicholas's wife
LANCASHIRE. 213
remained praying in an inner room, while Nicholas himself, armed with holy
water and a missal, courageously waited in the ihop for the arrival of the fiend.
He came, and claimed Nicholas, shewing him the bond : ' I do not,' said
Gosford, ' deny my signature, but you must allow that you used me very
scurvily about those three wishes, which never did me any manner of good.'
The demon demanded the due fulfilment of the bond. Nicholas tried to evade
it, and at last succeeded, for the devil allowed him one wish more, advising
him to wish something good for his family. The door was open, and Nicholas
seeing a dun horse grazing in the lane, said, ' My lord, I take thee at thy
word } I therefore wish that thou wert riding into hell upon yonder dun horse,
and never be able to return to earth again to plague either me or any other
poor mortal.' The demon uttered a yell that was heard as far as Colne ; the
bond dropped from bis hands ; an invisible power placed him on the dun
horse, and he was carried away with the swiftness of the wind. Nicholas,
after he had got rid of his unwelcome visitor, set up an inn, and thousands of
persons came from all parts of the world to see the only man who had ever
fairly outwitted the devil."
Two short miles brought us to Waddington. It is a neat, white-looking
village, with a clear rivulet running through it, over which is a small pic-
turesque bridge, with an old house or two near it, combining to make a scene
we thought worth sketching.
Our arrival in this place produced a suspension, not of hostilities, hut of
labour. The appearance of two well-dressed strangers in a chaise was evidently
no every-day event. The smith ceased his heavy blows, leaned on his sledge-
hammer, and surveyed us and our proceedings narrowly; a farmer's man who
wished to have his horse shod, stopped in the midst while unharnessing the
animal, and fairly gaped in staring; the village bai'bcr hastened to the smithy.
214 ENGLAND IN TUB NINETEENTH CENTURY:
and began to talk most glibly; three or four clodhopper boys stood with their
hands in their pockets, eagerly bending forward to catch the conversation. A
chandler's shop higher up the street was the meeting-place of some half-dozen
village gossips, who soon gathered together, some with children in their arms
or at their side, and all without covering for the head or shoulders. And
along both sides of the village, doors were opening, or eyes straining through
the casement. We meanwhile quietly pursued our course; here asking a
question, there contemplating an object; in a third place taking a sketch, and
in the fourth consulting about fature operations. But surely ours was enviable
popularity, if there is any sense in the Roman's preference, that he would
rather be the first man in a village than the second man in Rome ! After all,
the wisdom was perhaps not all on our side ; for we know not that we could
charge the simple-minded villagers with folly, if they chanced to wonder
what sufficient reason there was for such a visit to their poor, humble, and
secluded spot.
Just beyond the bridge is an enclosure of almshouses, entered by a good
archway, bearing an inscription to the eflfect that the " hospital" was bmlt and
endowed in the year 1700 by Robert Parker of Mosley Hall, Yorkshire, for
the reception of poor widows. They consist of twenty-seven small but com-
fortable dwellings, with a large garden in front, and a chapel in the centre,
where "prayers are read by Mr. Pearson, who lives in the village." At present
there are twenty-three widows dwelling in the place, one is absent from illness.
The widows assist each other in sickness. They are divided into two classes :
one class receives 10/. a-year, the other 18/. It would be difficult for any one
to view the place, marking the neatness and propriety which reign there, and
the kind of inmates which it has, without gratefully admitting that Mr. Parker
had made a wise as well as a benevolent use of his superfluity in founding
this pious retreat.
Our next object was Waddington Hall. For this indeed it was that we
had paid the visit. And '^ to what base uses may we come !" such was our
reflection as we went under a roof which had given shelter and hospitality to
a king. Meanness and dirt, cows and cowhouses, dogs and stables, with
shattered implements of husbandry, alone saluted our sight; and even after
we were within a part where human beings we thought might dwell, we still
doubted if we were where we should find any one of our own species.
Turning a little to the right, however, we found that it was " feeding time"
for others besides the quadrupedal live stock. There, around a clothless table,
and up and down a filthy room, sat or stood grandfather and his wife, master
and his wife, a serving woman and several brawny lads, with one intelligent-
looking girl, literally devouring fried fat bacon and boiled potatoes, with a
gusto which an epicure could not fail to envy. The condition of their persons
we pass, lest we should be charged with caricature. The character of the
group was as singular as their appearance. We saluted them and received no
LANCASKIBE.
reply. We put a question, and was answered by a simple " Yes." Another
interrogatory brought forth a " No." Clearly were we defeated in our purpose
of getting information, " Passive resistance," we thought, ia no contemptible
weapon of defence. In time, however, the old man's muscles began to relax
a little, the rather we suspect as he saw us give a gratuity to his grand-
daughter, who was shewing signs of pogsessing some other iacnlty besides that
of eating. And at length, having finished his meal and wiped his mouth with
the back of his hand, grandfather became communicative.
The Hall — of which we here delineate the front — consists of a centre with
two gables, could never have been very large, and is in a most dilapidated
condition. Its sole interest is connected with one of the most pitiable of
kings. Henry YI. had the misfortune to come into possession of a throne
while yet a minor. He was surrounded by wily relations, and served by
ambitious and disquiet nobles. A wax in France kept in nearly one unbroken
course of failure, under the enthusiastic pressure and fervid onslaught of Joan
of Arc. A jacquerie broke out at home. Not least among his evils, he married
a queen who had a stout mind and an iron will, while Henry was the slenderest
of reeds. Worst of all, there was a rival that claimed his crown. Civil wars
broke out. The roses were dyed in blood. Henry was deposed. Under
the auspices of the queen, fighting was more tfuin once resumed, carried on
with various issue, but always to the injury of the imbecile Henry. At last
the king was obliged to flee for his life, and conceal himself wherever he
could find a lurking place. The North afilbrded hi"' friends. In the moun-
tainous and thinly populated parte of Lancashire he was harboured with some-
thing like affection ; but it is not to be supposed, whatever the fidelity of tried
friends may have been, that even a king, whose distempered body inflicted
maladies, and at times almost idiocy on his mind, could in any case have
excited any strong feelings of respect; though it is not to be denied that
Whitaker has conjectured from certain expressions in the records of the
house, that Henry was sainted by the authorities of Whalley Abbey. He was
however betrayed, July 1464, while sitting at dinner in Waddington Hall,
216 EXGI.AND IK THE NINETEEXTH CENTURY:
by the servants of Sir James Harrington, who despatched him towards
London. At Islington he was met by the Earl of Warwick, and lodged
in the Tower, where either from pity or contempt he was allowed to live
unmolested.
On. finding himself betrayed the king made his escape, which was facili-
tated by the structure of the house. The present occupant shewed us what
is still called " the king's room ;" in our engraving it is that in the right
gable, with the large window — and explained how the king got away down
one staircase — the remains of it are seen pictured in the left angle — while his
pursuers ascended another. We give also a back view of the hall, as it
displays the window by which he got out of the house. His pursuers,
however, were too numerous and too eager for him, He reached the Ribble,
hoping to put that between himself and his enemies ; he attempted to ford it,
and was captured midway.
The hall, as we have intimated, has lost all outward appearance of great-
ness. The king's room, however, has an old oak floor, the walls are very
thick, " Henry's staircase " is narrow and winding, built of stone. The
house, till within the last forty years, had a flat lead roof. A stone coflin
stands at the back door, the rudeness of whose masonry not unaptly cor-
responds with the actual condition of this perishing edifice.
From Waddington we took a southerly route, and kept on our right
Langridge Fell, which from our position strikingly resembled the back
of a huge whale ; while along our course ran the beautiful Bihble, and on
our left stood Clithero, overtopped by the majestic Pendle. The coimtry
was well wooded, and we rejoiced to find signs that we had at last got into
parts where com was wont to be grown. We crossed the river over a fine
bridge with five arches; passed Lowfield House, placed in a choice spot;
caught a glimpse of the pinnacles of Stonyhurst, and rejoiced to behold hedges
of thorn and bramble instead of stone, and, not least welcome sight, thatched
cottages. Thus we reached Mitton. An old saw declares:
" The Hodder, the Calder, the Ribble and rain,
All meet in > point on Mitton'i doroiin."
LANCASHIRE. 217
We at least were spared the last unpleasant companion. The Caldcr had
kept us company from its fountain-head in Cliviger. The Eibble is thus
described by Harrison, chaplain to Lord Cobham, with a quotation Scorn
Drayton.
" The Rybell, a river verie rich of salmon and lampreie, dooth in manner
inviron Preston in Andernesse, and it riaeth neere to Ribbesdale, above Gis-
burne (in Yorkshire):
Prooi Peoigent'i proud foot, a> fWim my lource I tSlde.
Tbat mounuin my proud Kf r(, in heiglit of all his pride,
TakM plniure in my course, u in his lirit-borne flood ;
And Ingleborovr Hill of ihat Olympian brood,
With Pendle, oTthe north the highest hills that he.
Doe viilly mc behold, and an beheld by me."
The Hodder also comes out of Yorkshire. " Going," says Harrison, " to
Shilbume, Newton, Kadholme Parke, and Stonyhirst, it falleth ere long into
the nibble water."
Mitton Magna, or Great Mitton, is singularly situated on a tapering
tongue of land, formed by the confluence into the Kibble of the Hodder and
the Calder, terminating at their point of union the boundaries of Yorkshire,
which thus darts, as it were, into the body of Lancashire. The church stands
on an eminence, com-
manding a line view
of a fine country. It
is a low building,
with an embattled
tower. As we en-
tered the church-
yard, we saw a re-
cumbent figure cut
in stone, and learned
that it was the coun-
terpart of the marble
figure of a knight
lying within the edi-
fice. A village mason,
surprised at the cost
of the marble memorial, and piqued that strangers had been trusted with
the execution of it, determined to shew what could be done at home, and
produced this — which after all is but a copy — receiving for his pains, if we
may judge from the place where hes the triumph of his skill, little more
than cold thanks or absolute neglect. A cross also stands iu the yard, which
may once have decorated the top of the outside of the chancel. ITie cross
was lost for many years, and was dug up by the former clerk, William
218 KNfll.AXI) IX TJIE KIXRTFESTH OESTURY :
Harrison. We here present the cross, the other face of which may be seen
in the view of a part of Mitton church.
^ The interior of the church is very plain,
except the part which is termed the Sherburne
Chapel. Near the screen, which separates this
chnpcl from the chancel, is a curious old chest.
On the top of the chest, are a few old volumes
fastened to it by chains. This appears to have
been at one time of day the village library, and the chains afford a marked
contrast with the "circulating" and "travelling" libraries of the present
hour. The books are mostly works in explanation and defence of the doctrines
and liturgy of the Anglican Church. In one of them, " Burkitt's Expository
Notes," there is on the title page, an autograph in these words, " Bought by
Wm. Johnson, Vicar of Mitton, for the use of ye parishioners." On " Bonnet's
Paraphrase upon the Book of Common Prayer," we read, " Ex Libris Ecclesire
Paroebialis de Mitton, 1722." It thus appears that parochial libraries are not
a new thought.
The Sherburne Chapel, containing marble monuments and figures as large
as life, memorials of a knightly family, is a sight the more impressive
from the bare simplicity with which it stands in immediate juxta position in
the church. Who could, however, help feeling that man here was more
thought of and honoured than God ? In the decoration of their chapel and
display of themselves, the Sherbumes spared no expense, and have left
behind them costly and magnificent memorials; but for the temple of the
Creator, they let that take its chance at the hands of an uncultivated peasantry.
Nor are your surprise and regrets abated when you have read, supposing you
have patience to get through the task, the long and minute recital of the
meritorious deeds, splendid achievements, and high honours of these same
" rulers of the land." As we stood there, before this blazonry of human
greatness, our thoughts were carried back many hundred years to the memo-
rials which arc left us of the first Christians and early martyrs. Let the reader
LANCASHIRE. gl9
carry his mind into the catacombs in and about Rome, and he will soon learn
in the inscriptions he reads, that he has to do with real and not fictitious
feeling — with human nature — with genuine Christian emotion. How simple,
often how inexpressibly touching the memorial! A parent briefly names the
age of his beloved child, or a husband that of his wife, and the years they
had lived in wedlock. Or it is a wish of peace, or a rough emblem of the
believer's hope; no long drawn catalogue of virtues, no self-laudation undtT
the thin guise of panegyrising a departed member of the family ; all is as
natural and as affecting as the first promulgation of that Gospel in whose
faith they lived, suffered, and died. We translate an instance or two. " The
resting-place of Domitian." " Severus to Jemima his wife, who lived twenty
years and two months, of which she passed two years with her husband,"
" Her mourning parents had this made in memory of Leopardes, a, virgin,
who lived seventeen years and two days. In peace,"*
A very short walk brought us to
Little Mitton, whose Hall was a
choice piece of architecture, being a
specimen of the sort of houses in
which the gentry lived in the days
of the Seventh Harry. Whitaker
declares the " hall, with its embayed
window, screen, and gallery over it,
one of the finest Gothic rooms" he
had "seen in a private house." The
screen-work, which is extremelyrich, ,
he pronounces to be of later date |
than the rest of the wood-work,
" Upon the panels of the screen are
carved, in pretty bold relief, ten
heads, male and female, within me-
dalhons, which have a rude kind of :
character, and were evidently in-
tended for portraits." The historian
of Whalley thus concludes what ho
says touching this architectural gem.
" I cannot take leave of this venerable room without a wish that it may never
fall into hands who have less respect for it than its present owner; and that no
painter's brush or carpenter's hammer may ever come near it, excepting to
arrest the progress of otherwise inevitable decay. 1/ Ikou lift up thy tool upon it
thou hast defiled it." This forcible passage rushed into our mind as wc drew neai'
the hall, and beheld signs of change, repair and restoration, rife on every side.
It seemed as if the enemies of the place had beleaguered it on every side, and
• Iialj, l>)r Spuldiog, vol. ii.
220 ENGLAND IN THE NIKETEEMTH CENTLRY :
that its ruin was inevitable. We entered the house; our sight, oar hearing,
and even our sense of smell was assailed by tokens of alteration. The very
eatI that the antiquarian enthusiast had deprecated had come in all its force
upon the place. The hall may, for aught we know, prove a very good hall for
the purposes of the present proprietor — which, however, we rather doubt;
but let no lover of art approach it with the memory of what it Wtis; let no
antiquarian enter therein to behold that of which he had read — the glory has
departed; and in its place, new and old, exquisite work and very bad, this
colour and that, blend together in this specimen of what the moderns can do,
presenting a motley and almost grotesque spectacle. What " the painter's
brush" and the burnisher's hand (the carpenter's hammer at the time we write
has done its best and its worst, as well as the graver's tool) may with infinite
and thankless labour effect, we do not predict; and in good sooth, afler the
devastation committed, future changes are of small account. It should how-
ever be in justice added, that Mr. Aspinall, of Standen Hall, has rescued the
place from the degradation and the damage which it previously suffered in
being an ordinary farm-house.
Our road was now towards Stonyhurst — princely Stonyhurst — taking,
among the creations of man in this fine district, the rank which Pendle holds
among the works of the Almighty. It was a short journey, two miles, but
one never to be forgotten. Yes, these narrow lanes, with tall, thick, tangled
hedges, this moss, and these moss-grown trees, this deep-coloured vegetation,
those luxuiiant fields of corn — truly this is England, our own dear south
country. As if to add singularity to loveliness, two bridges cross the river at
this point: one a modem stone erection, with parapet walls and bold piers;
the other, also of stone, very old, covered with ivy, steep, no wall, and
extremely narrow. We thought they were not altogether unapt symbols
of the days of our forefathers, and of our own days — both very good days
, I
• A
I
I
I
I
I
I LANCASHIRE. 221
i
*
I
in their way, yet with a difference : those having more of the poetry of life ;
these eminently fitted for its solid utilities. What forbids the union of two
influences, which never ought to have been kept asunder? The cottages that
dotted the scene, the old stumps of broken railing (no more stone walls), the
rustic wain and the heavy horse, we could have called them aU old friends,
and for a moment believe we had seen each in our boyhood. Then the trees
— truly these are trees; a rare sight in Lancashire, where something little
better than shrubs often go by the name. And as we ascended the sort of
ridge on which the edifice is placed, every now and then we caught a glimpse
of its two noble turrets glancing through the woods with which the hill sides
are covered; while our eyes were delighted and our ears regaled by the
bright stream of the Hodder, which ran gurgling on our left. A relic of the
olden time presented itself to our notice as we made our way to the mansion,
in the great number of persons whom we met wearing the appearance of
beggars, no few with the impress on them of genuine Irish features. We
afterwards learned that hospitality is so far considered a duty by the authorities
of the establishment, that they refizse relief to no applicants; — ^with one excep-
tion, they prohibit alms to all comers who bear on their persons the dis-
qualifying stains of manufacturing manipulations.
Well, here we are, at Stonyhurst. This is the building we have seen from
so many points in the surrounding country. These are the cupolas that now
glistened in the sun, and now looked like watch-towers keeping an eye over
what was done in the plains below, and under the shades of coming night
were the last objects to fade from the eye. It was with mingled feelings we
entered beneath the great archway, and stood within the quadrangle, which
forms an inner court, on whose sides the main body of the edifice is built.
The dwellers here, qiiiet as all seems, had left through the pages of history
memories in our mind, in which the painftd preponderated, and was blended
with no small leaven of mystery and awe. True, we know they had always
been the friends of education; we had just gone over in our mind what
they had done for its higher branches, especially in classical literature, at
a period when the merit of their doings in this was very great. But we
were unable to resist the impression produced by far different engagements.
Even the power — once so immense, yet so secret in its operations — of the
society pressed heavily on our thoughts : a certain feeling of greatness, how-
ever, and of consequent admiration, sprang up as we dwelt on scenes in their
early history. Was not Xavier (a greater man than Loyola, their founder)
with seeming propriety designated " the Apostle of India and Japan?" This
Xavier has thrown around the society the lustre of poetry in action, and the
mists of the wonderftil, if not the dignity of historic heroism. An old writer*
declares that " he extended the kingdom of Jesus Christ beyond the con-
quests of Alexander, and surpassed in courage Alexander himself; that he
* La Vie de Saint Francois Xavier. Paris, 1715.
222 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
subjected numberless nations to the empire of the Cross, and brought them
into obedience to the Holy See." He had moreover, it seems, the gift of
miracles par excellence.
The recollections that we brought with us served to raise a very lively
curiosity to survey the house, and to behold members of the order. Our wish
was gratified, and our expectations far surpassed. The review of the impres- ,
sions made on us, indeed, does not leave unqualified satisfaction. There •
prevails for the most part a tranquillity about the place which approaches to \
gloom. The porter who in part attended on us, though civil, was uncommu-
nicative. We were honoured by the company of one of the brethren; but his
looks were not prepossessing, nor his communications either free or abundant,
though his manners were easy and courteous. It is possible that the hospi-
t^olities of the establishment may have been somewhat of late restricted, as we
learn that the reverend brethren hold that their confidence has been abused,
and the secresy of their home in a measure profaned. On other occasions, as
we have been informed, these self-made bachelors have found their hospitable
inclinations bring inconvenience. It is a mistake to imagine that the domestic ^
duties of the establishment are performed by males. Seeing a number of ^ ^
servant-looking girls issue from the back part of the building as the evening
shades had nearly become extinct, we inquired what their office was, and
learned that no fewer than nineteen female servants were employed in the house.
Beyond a question, however, the strictest propriety, as well as pure and lofty
morals, prevail in the establishment. Few places, we believe, could more
safely endure a strict scrutiny. The adults are men of a high moral tone,
who deserve the respect in which they are held among those who know them,
by the holiness and benevolence of their lives. Nor can we deny that there
is something which conciliates regard in the spectacle of a body of men
devoted for the length of their days to the tuition of the young, the guidance
of the mature, and the solace of the aged, apart from the rivalries, and unre- *
warded by the honours of social life. Doubtless every member of the order
feels a pleasure in witnessing and promoting its advancement, and is specially
gratified at every step made in a prosperous coTirse by the institution with
which he is immediately connected; but then let it be admitted that such .
feelings are of a high rank in the scale of virtue, and tend, when properly
regulated, to refine and elevate the character. Nothing of a grossly selfish
nature can effect a lodgment in the breasts of men who study and toil, not for
their owi^ individual ends, but for the ftirtherance of a corporation whose weal
they believe to be identified with the great and enduring interests of their
religion.
Morality among the pupils is maintained by ceaseless and most diligent
super^dsion. Four Prefects arc charged to keep watch night and day. The
scholars are never left to themselves. Their private studies are superintended;
superintended also are their sports; in the refectory and the dormitory alike.
I
LANCASHIRE. 223
I
the vigilant eye of friendly supervision is on the youths. Not less important
is the constant occupation, varying as needs may be, between labour and
recreation, in which the pupils are kept engaged from morn to nightfall. A
busy youth has few temptations, and fewer opportunities to fall into vice.
The scholars themselves recognise the importance of virtue, and evince a
i manly independence by keeping up among their own body a sort of moral
} police. A foimer student at Stonyhurst describes this institution, denominated
/ the Sodality: — ^*' It consisted of the majority of the boys, who voluntarily
enrolled themselves in a corporation, which was instituted in honour of the
' Blessed Virgin.* They selected a certain number of individuals amongst
themselves who are called admonitors, and who bound themselves to disclose
to the heads of the school every mal-practice which should fall under their
cognizance."*
A natural consequence of the care bestowed on the morals of the scholars
is that the establishment has earned the confidence of the first Catholic families,
^ not only of the neighbourhood but the kingdom, who are accustomed to send
A their boys to Stonyhurst for their education.
Equally good is the intellectual discipline through which the scholars are
conducted. No labour, no care, no expense is spared. Whatever can be
effected by means of competent masters, oral instruction, weU composed works,
a good library, an extensive apparatus, an observatory — all is done for the
advancement of the mental discipline of the pupils. The course of instruction
is extensive and complete. It is spread over a space of seven years. One
peculiarity is remarkable — the same master conducts each set of students
through all the classes, beginning with the rudiments, and ascending to the
highest subjects taught. Having gone round this curriculum, he begins again
with a new body of scholars, whom he does not quit till he has gone over the
course and completed the septennial period. One advantage at least attends
such an arrangement — ^that the instructor becomes thoroughly acquainted with
the condition and wants of his pupils' minds, and can adapt his teachings to
the peculiarities of each. Besides, on the supposition that the teacher is a
moral and accomplished man, what can be more conducive to the virtue and
the cultivation of youth, than so intimate and so lengthened an intercourse?
The number of the boys varies. At present there are in the institution
183, including sons of Lord Clifford and Lord Arundel. Our attendant
stated that there were 248 when he was a scholar. Besides these, there are
many students training for spiritual occupations. Of priests, professors, and
teachers, there are forty resident adults.f
* Recollections of the Jesuits. Niew Monthly Magadfief 1829» p. S56.
f Rector, Rer. Francis Daniel. Minister, Rev. Joseph Johnson. Prefects of Studies, Rev. Charles
Brooke and Rev. George Connelk Spiritual Instructor, Rev. William Rove.
Professors: Rev. Robert Korsak, divinity; Rev. Richard CaroU, logic and metaphysics; Rev.
Matthew McCann, mathematics; Rev. Henry McCann, natural philosophy and chemistry; Mr.
Edward Bird, natural history; Rev. Thomas Tracy Clarke, history; Rev. Thomas Seed, Greek;
224 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
The French Revolution grievously afflicted, and almost destroyed the
Society of Jesus ; but the first free act of Pope Pius VII. was to restore it,
which he effected by a Bull, dated August 7th, 1814. In 1824, the order
again opened its college in Rome, and so increased that there was need to
find room for them out of the city. In 1829, Father Roothan was chosen their
general, who appointed Father Jansens his secretary.
The only establishment of Jesiiits in England is, we believe, this at
Stonyhurst. It is out of our power to imagine any possible harm that could
accrue to the country from the existence within it of such institutions as this
at Stonyhurst, devoted as it is in the main, to purely educational purposes.
And if, as is the fact, it is regarded with trust and even affection by the first
The Abb^ Gaillard, French; Rev. William Cubb, Latin (senior class); Ditto, English literature;
Rev. Maurice Maun, Latin (junior class).
Matters: Mr. William Johnson, rhetoric ; Mr. Thomas Cooper, poetry; Mr. Peter Galwey, syntai ;
Mr. William Cardwell, grammar; Mr. Thomas Ullathorne, rudiments ; Mr. Walter Clifford, figures ;
Mr. Langmeaaon, elements ; Rev. John Baron, elocution.
/. — Regulations concerning the Admission of Students,
The age of admission is from seven to fourteen. Children who have been at any other house of
education, must have, from the Superior of that house, an attestation of their morals and docility.
There is an Establishment at Hodoxr, a short distance from the College and connected with it,
for the Elementary education of the younger children, where they receive that indulgent and constant
attention which their tender age may require. This Establishment has recently been considerably
enlarged and improved*
//. — Course of Education,
The scholars are instructed with great care in the duties of religion and morality. They are always
under the immediate Inspection of one or more of the Superiors.
The Course of Classical Education comprises the study of the chief Greek and Latin Classic
authors, of Composition in Greek and Latin proae and verse, and of the English, French, and Italian
languages. Regular instruction is also given in Reading, Elocution, History, Sacred and Profane,
Geography, Writing, Arithmetic, Book-keeping, Algebra, Geometry, and Trigonometry. .
The College is affiliated to the London University, and distinct Professors are appropriated for each
of the following branches : for Greek, for Latin, for English Literature, for the Pure and Miied
Mathematics, for Eiperimental Philosophy and Chemistry, for Natural History, for Logic and
Philosophy of the Mind, and for History.
There is in the College an extensive apparatus for experimental philosophy, an astronomical
observatory, a chemical laboratory, a collection of minerals, etc. There is also a considerable and
increasing library of approved works of history, and of general information, of which the scholars
have the use on paying a small monthly subscription. Masters of music, drawing, dancing, and
fencing, give lessons to those whose parents may desire it.
All are closely examined four times a-year, in what they have learned during the preceding
quarter. At the annual exhibition, a considerable number of prizes, consisting of books and silver
medals, is distributed among those who have made the most distinguished progress.
Ill,— Terms,
Children under twelve years of age, pay forty guineas a-year. Those above that age, fifty guineas
a-year. The students in the under-graduate course, whether they have matriculated or not, pay
sixty guineas a-year. Under -graduates and students regularly attending the lectures of any of the
professors of the under-graduate course, may have private apartments and a separate table, but then
they must pay a hundred guineas a-year. The students of the under-graduate course, and of the
class of rhetoric, must provide their own clothes.
LANCASHIRE. S2S
Catholic families of the realm, this of itaelf is a sufficient guarantee that it is
actuated hy no unpatriotic feelings, nor aims at any anti-national purposes.
In truth no part of the community is more loyal, none takes a deeper interest
in whatever concerns the ipelfare or the honour of Great Britain. Even
while labouring under unmerited and unjust diEqualifications, they remained
faithful to all that endears his country to an Englishman. An eyewitness
thus describes the manner in which the news of the battle of the Nile was
received within the walls of Stonyhurst. " The students were assembled in
order to witness some experiments in galvanism. In the midst of profound
attention, a person rushed in and exclaimed that Nelson had obtained a great
victory. An immediate cheer was given by the Jesuits, and re-echoed by the
boys. Presently a newspapaper was received, and the whole college gathered
round the reader with avidity ; and when the dettuls of the battle of Trafa^ar
were heard, there were repeated acclamations at almost every sentence; and
the narrative being concluded, continued shouts for ' Old England,' were sent
up, and every cap was thrown into the air. Several days for rejoicing were
given to the students, and a poem, which I then at least considerd a fine one,
was composed in honour of the event by one of the Jesuits, and admirably
recited in the great halL"
Yet the law of England still looks with a suspicious eye on men of this
temper. The legal condition of the Jesuits in this country was determined
by 10 Geo. IV. cap. 7, commonly called the Emancipation Act.
The mansion in which this collie is founded, has an imposing aspect,
both from the commanding position in which it is placed, and the general
outline of the buOding. It is an edifice of the days of Elizabeth, though not
pure in its style; additions have been made to the original structure; it is in
contemplation to add another part or wing to the left side, which will much
improve the proportions and appearance. The house is approached up a very
226 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
long avenue, leading from a village, and near a Catholic cemetery, in which
we found several objects of interest. Swans were sailing along a very fine
sheet of water, as we drew near the outer entrance, which lies through a
handsome pair of stone pillars, and then through a massive gate. As we
entered on the avenue we were much delighted at the prospect, embracing
not only a full view of the mansion, but fine and diversified foliage on each
side, presenting also on the right a spacious building, which we found to be
the seminary, or ecclesiastical college, where the candidates for holy orders
carry on their studies. Another building is found, lower down on the banks
of the Hodder, which is used in part as an elementary school, in part also
as a place of retreat for the young priests. Among them we believe it is that
the real society of the Virgin exists.
We were received at the gateway by the porter, who introducing us to a
waiting-room, asked for our letters of introduction. We had, we replied, not
frimished ourselves with any, having on a prior occasion been admitted with-
out. It was the rule, he rejoined, but would, if we pleased, take our card to
the Principal of the establishment. We sent it, and added an intimation of
the object of our visit, hoping that some one better informed than an ordinary
servant might be permitted to accompany us through the house.
It was in 1794 that a few persons, flying from Liege in consequence of
the severe proscriptions of the French Revolution, came into England, whose
penal laws against religious dissidents had undergone some relaxation, and
proceeded to establish themselves in this neighbourhood. Whatever opinion
we may entertain of the principles and aims of the Jesuits as a body, it is
impossible to deny that many of them were men of high intellectual, moral,
and personal accomplishments. Those judge them by a very false standard
who take their ideas from the Irish Roman Catholic priests, or even the priests
of that communion who are settled with congregations in England. The
Jesuits, educated abroad, were often members of distinguished families, and
had generally received such a training in science and literature, and been
so conversant with good society, that they were in their manners, tone of
thought, and ordinary pursuits, gentlemen in the best sense of the term. And
the nature of their obligatory discipline would naturally tend to beget a con-
centration of thought and vigour of intellect. Meditation and solitude are
emphatically the parents of mental strength ; whilst the severance of their
energies from the ordinary pursuits and affections of the world, and the intense
action of the religious sentiment on the mind, could have no other restdt than
to augment the power, increase the efficiency, and enhance the refinement of
the understanding. Even the self-denial and mortifications of the flesh which
the niles of the order imposed, might tend to cleanse the breast of the idols
of sense, make life to be regarded in truth as a scene of trial and a " vale of
tears," and enable the sincere devotee to lose (at least by times) the idea of
earth, and send, with an entire collectedness of mind, all his thoughts upward
LANCASHIRE. Z27
to the great Source of Lights good^ and consolation. And this position of mind
it is that we find figged in what is called the symbol of the society.
The originators of the institution found the mansion — ^the dwelling-place
for long of the Sherbumes, who are so glorified in Mitton church — ^in a very
neglected condition. They succeeded in obtaining, on moderate terms, a long
lease of the house and farm firom Thomas Weld, Esq., its owner, and pro-
ceeded to take efiectual steps for repairing the dilapidations, and converting
the place into an educational establishment. The estate we believe is now
for the most part the property of the order. Connected with the house are
about 1100 acres of land, which are under the care of a steward of their own.
They have extensive ofiices attached to the house, in which ordinary trades
and pursuits are carried on; so that when their income from the parents of
their pupils is taken into account, it will be seen that they have not only great
resources at their command, but means also of augmenting their opulence.
The expenditure of their resources is under strict control, and, as far as we
know, judiciously managed. They have of late erected, at right angles with
the north wing of the house, a handsome church, which cost above 10,000/.
The first stone of the building was laid in 1832. It is dedicated to St. Peter.
While waiting for the return of our messenger, we occupied our time in
surveying the ornaments of the room in which we were. It is a good-sized
apartment, well lined with paintings of diflFerent kinds and various merit. We
shall not attempt an enumeration of things which the eye only can form an
adequate idea of — at least if we may venture to judge others by our own
experience, having generally found mere verbal descriptions of pictures the
most tedious of tedious things. We must however refer to a case containing
some exquisite paintings in vellum, said to be by Rubens, though we cannot
help suspecting that some of them at least are rather copies than originals.
The subjects are for the most part of a Roman Catholic character; and there
are both among these, and in other parts of the house, paintings on religious
matters, which, in our opinion, neither correct religious feeling nor good taste
can approve; such for instance as a representation of the Almighty in person
raining brimstone and fire on the devoted " cities of the plain."
The porter returned and took us under his guidance. We passed over the
spacious quadrangle, with its handsome flight of steps, and traversed a long
stone gallery or cloisters, the walls of which bore moniunental tablets in
memory of benefactors and eminent servants of the institution, the inscriptions
on which breathe a religious character; so brief, simple, and unassuming are
they. As we entered the sacred edifice we saw a venerable old man, in his
sacerdotal robes, kneeling before one of the side altars, wrapped in devotion.
Our steps did not rouse him; and his apparent unconsciousness of our presence,
together with the devotional attitude of a few other persons scattered up and
down the place, made us cautious in every step we set, and every question we
asked. We have been in this church at two different times, and experienced
228 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTIRT :
on both occasions the tranqtiilising and elevating effect it is fitted to excite.
Behind the high altar ia a fine -window of stained glass, bearing in its several
compartments figures of our Saviour, the Virgin, and the Twelve Apostles, etc.
The altar itself is beau-
tifully decorated with a
fine crucifix of silver, and
bronze candlesticks. It is
consecrated to St. Peter.
On each side is a private
altar; that on the right
being surmounted by a
fuU-Iength portraiture of
Ignatius Loyola; that on
theleft, of Francis Xavier,
The altar on the right is
that at which prayers are
offered for the dead. ITie
elevation of the interior is
in excellent style, with its
elegant oak roof, and is
well set off by a fine and
beautifully -toned organ.
The edifice will accommo-
date 1500 worshippers,
and is generally quite
fiill. The students con-
stitute the choir. There
is divine service twice
every Sunday, and on
both occasions a sermon.
Some few persons were
standing at the west end, and contemplating the place with evident satisfac-
tion ; and we were led to reflect how gratefiJ so imposing a sight must be to
the mind of an English Roman Catholic, who is not only conscious of being
disesteemed by his countrymen, but in general beholds his religions observ-
ances under mean and, in his estimation, unworthy accompaniments.
We passed through fine galleries and handsome apartments, which we
purposely omit, as we have no idea of giving a kind of auctioneer's inventory
of the place. Glad, however, were we to catch sight as we went, of a large
cupboard or press, replete with musical instruments, which on inquiry we
found were made use of by the students in their hours of recreation. One
great recommendation of the establishment as a place of education, is found
opportunities which it affords for innocent and healthful
LANCASHIRE. 229
amusements. If walking or riding over a fine rich and picturesque country —
if fishing where there are fish worth the trouble of catching ; if a pure air and
a spacious playground are valuable, they are all united here. With the size
and convenience of the playground, with its wall for tennis, filled as it was
with students enjoying their several games, and professors and proctors in
their gowns, parading up and down engaged in friendly converse — all
apparently happy, we were very highly gratified, and the sight went far to
relieve a certain gloom which had some way taken possession of our mind.
The sound of a gong, struck repeatedly, startled us in our passage from
one part to another. It was the customary signal for attention to some of the
duties of the students.
When we reached the refectory, the Kev. Mr. Bridge did us the honour
to replace our guide, the porter, and we have pleasiire in thus acknowledging
the courteousness of that gentleman. The refectory, sixty feet by twenty,
was the baronial hall of the Sherburnes; its ceiling, frieze, and floor are
handsome. Dinner apparatus was on the several tables, made of oak, twenty-
five in number, capable of accommodating 150 scholars. Some good portraits
adorn this apartment.
The dressing-room for the pupils, fitted up with small compartments
holding clothes, brushes, etc., was no small curiosity in its way — ^but the
dormitories are still more worthy of notice. Each student has a separate bed,
over the head of which, for the most part, we saw a small crucifix. The
arrangement is such, that each may also be said to have in some sense a
separate bed-room, while an outer range of curtained apartments opens into
one long gallery, enabling the night-proctors to exert an eflTectual supervision
over the boys, during their hours of retirement and rest.
One room into which we were introduced, fitted up with desks, and having
a kind of pulpit placed in the middle of the side which faces you as you enter
at the door, is, we were informed, appropriated exclusively for study; the
pupils spend in it four hours every day, under supervision of a Prefect, whose
sole business is to preserve entire silence, and to enforce order, in the pre-
paration of their several tasks or lessons, for the recital of which they go into
separate class rooms, each according to his division.
The picture gallery, or recreation room, is a spacious apartment well
furnished with paintings. It contains no less than ten portraits of the
Stuarts. Over the fireplace is a painting which groups together portraits of
the great men of the Society of Jesus during the early period of its history.
We were much struck with a fine Ecce Homo. An interior, presented Jesus
with Mary and Martha; the eflTect of which is very beautiful. Another
painting of merit is a St. Catherine attending the sick ; indeed the collection
is one of great value and much interest.
The library, consisting of 16,000 volumes, is found in a room built in the
shape of a cross, with a gallery round it supported on columns. On entering.
230 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
the first object which fixed our attention was a splendid circular electrical
machine. So far as a cursory inspection on two occasions would enable us
to judge, we feel warranted in stating that the books have been selected with
a laudable regard to impartiality; and if the yoimg men who are educated
in the institution, prove bigots at the last, it is certainly not for the want of
an opportunity of reading the best works which have been written on the
leading points in dispute, whether in history, theology, or science. A cabinet
in the museum contains some relics of more than ordinary interest ; we may
mention a Prayer-book, which once belonged to the unhappy Mary Queen of
Scots, richly covered with crimson velvet. Here also we saw a silk cap,
formerly the property of that learned man, and excellent father. Sir Thomas
Moore. Near it lies his seal. A crucifix of gold has perhaps more market-
able value, but was less precious in our eyes than a Latin manuscript on
vellum of the Gospel of St. John, said to have been found in the seventh
century in St. Cuthbert's tomb. The same glasscase contains also some
beautifully carved crucifixes; a crucifix of crystal, another of rosewood,
with a Christ painted on it, reported to be by the hand of Rubens; the
workmanship is not unworthy his reputation. The Museum is very rich in
curiosities, in consequence probably of the numerous and extensive con-
nexions of the Order with all parts of the world. Here may you see lying or
hanging near each other, a suit of armour, with other memorials of our Middle
Ages; and Indian bows and arrows, Indian aprons, cradles, and shoes; canoes,
Chinese slippers; a cast of Talleyrand, another of Greenacre, and another of
Brougham; two casts of Indian chiefs, even more ugly than those we have
just named; portraits executed on wood by a red-hot iron; a collection of
coins, casts of early martyrdoms, a crystal cross set with precious stones, a
grotesque group of apes, a bust of Cardinal Weld, the twelve Cffisars, an
Adoration of the Wise Men; with minerals, shells, birds, feathers without
number. The most valuable article is a cabinet of lapis lazuli profusely
adorned, which formerly belonged to the learned Queen Christina of Sweden.
Not least curious and interesting are the gardens, though now diminished
in size by encroachments for the accommodation of the pupils. They remain
pretty much in the stiff and angular style in which they were originally laid
out. They are well kept, and furnish the house with many luxuries. Our
eyes soon fell and fixed themselves on a Roman altar, one of the fiinest
remains of classical antiquity which have been dug from the soil of our land.
Camden, in 1603, saw this altar at Ribchester, where it was found. It is
dedicated to the divine matrons, by a captain of the Asturians. The inscrip-
tion we copied verbatim et literatim from a brass plate on one of its sides:
Deis Matribus
M. Ingenui
us Asiaticus
Dec. al. Ast.
SS. LL. M
LANCASHIKE. ^1
It is, as the reader will see by our engraving, in a good state of preservation.
Pieces of broken sculpture
of a different age from its
own, and suggesting very
dissimilar ideas, lie near
and around it.
The most extraordinary
feature in the gardens is,
perhaps, the lofty, solid,
well-trimmed walls of yew,
which stretch out in great
lengths, adding more, wc
confess, to the singularity
than the beautyof the place.
And yet they have a certain
antique air which accords
well with the general cha-
racter of the establishment.
On one side, that sheltered
from the Irish sea, the foliage ia luxuriant, and of a very deep rich green.
The exposed side has never recovered from the injury which it suffered
by the storm in January 1839; the salt water brought from the west on
that occasion, almost ruined the walls, distant though they are from the
ocean. The gardens are adorned by two handsome summerhouses, built
of brick, with stone coignes and very heavy cornices, hke some found at
Hampton Court, after the manner of Inigo Jones. They are embeUished
with handsomely carved flowers and fruit, and surmounted each by the
figure of an eagle. We were pleased to behold a fine bowling green.
HOK ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTLRY :
Biu-rouodcd by yew trees and hedges. Lengthened avenues of firs and cedars,
terminated by square pedestals, bearing fruits and fiovers executed in a very
bold style of carving, had
the finer effect because of
the long shadows of even-
ing, and the figures which
were gently pacing up and
down them, attired in long
black robes.
We lingered in the gar-
den as long as propriety
would permit, unwilling to
quit so deeply interesting
a spot. The sound of the
gong, however, warned us
of the approach of night,
for it was a summons to
the vesper prayers. Im-
mediately individuals and
groups in friendly converse,
all wearing the habiliments peculiar to the Order, were seen gathering near the
church, or indistinctly observed paesing down the cloisters. Presently the
gently pealing organ and a choir of swelling voices came upon our ears, as we
stood pleasurably contemplating the mansion, and bade us think of shelter for
the night, and the distance we had to go. Accordingly with a feeling of
softened regret we removed ourselves from the pleasing spectacle and the
sacred and soothing harmony, resumed our seat in the carriage, quitted this
*' gem of Ribblesdale," and ere long were busily engaged with the substantials
of a comfortable dinner.
From Stonyhurst a short and most agreeable drive brought us near to
Kibchester. Keeping the Ribble on our right, we had a good opportunity of
witnessing the richness of its scenery. We passed several houses on our road,
which, more or less, merited the epithet of " Halls" appUed to them. At
length, taking a turn towards the west, we came in sight of that part of the
vale of the Ribble in which Ribchestcr lies. It was with no ordinary sensa-
tions we fixed our eyes on this lovely scene. ITie village is endeared to the
lover of the antique by a host of recollections — memories embracing centuries —
and the most diversified types of civilization. And then to find the Ribchester
of the Romans, which books had taught us to expect a poor wretched place,
situated in the midst of one of the richest and most smiling prospects we ever
saw, added the delight of surprise to the gratification of at length realising
long cherished wishes. We stopped the carriage to gaze on the scene, ere we
left the height from which we beheld it to so great an advantage. A more
LANCASHIRE. 233
complete bosom than this cannot well be conceived. The lu'll^ on all sides
retire as if expressly to form it, appearing in the extreme north and south to
curve gently round in order to inclose the vale. Rising boldly from the plain
to a considerable height, varied in shape and diversified in hue, they offer
splendid triumphs of the art of agriculture, presenting woods, arable, pasture
land, and woods again with constant interchange. The Kibble serpentines
throi^h the plain, making a noble sweep to leave land for BibcheBtet; and
over the river,
as you descend
from the emi-
nence on the
Preston road,
stands a hand-
some bridge,
spanning one
hundred yards
with three
arches, and
affording fine
viewB both up
and down the
stream.
The moment we set ovir eyes on this locality, we believed the tradition that
Ribchester had been a seaport. ITie opportunities of birth have given us
some knowledge of the signs which accompany the influence of the sea, and
we are free to assert that we never saw anything look more like sea shore
than the banks of the Ribble at this spot. Content with recording our
impression, we
leave to others
the geological
difficulties which
are said to ex-
plode the claim
of Ribchester to
having once been
a bay of the sea.
The first ob-
ject to which our
attention was di-
rected was Sales-
bury Hall, lying
on the eastern
side of the Ribble, under shelter of a hill to the north. The view above the
!E3* ENGLAND IN TUB NINETEENTH CENTURY:
house is romantic and charming. The Kibble bursts from its confined channel
between two rocks, beautifully shaded with trees. Its waters gush with
impetuosity through a narrow strait, and form a deep whirlpool, denominated
Sale Wheel. Above, the banks are high and confined, the country rising
and wooded; and the distance is terminated by the bold mountain scenery
of " the Olympian brood." This hall was successively the property of the
Salesburys, Clitheroes, and Talbots, and is entitled to peculiar respect from an
antiquary as being the birthplace of Thomas Talbot.
A fine sculpture found at Ribchcster
was built up in one of its walls. It is
an altar dedicated to Apollo. On one
side the deity is represented as ele-
gantly leaning on one elbow, with a
quiver on his back, a lyre in his hand,
and a loose mantle flowing gracefully
behind him. On the other front appear
two of his priests, attired in long robes,
and a peplum, with the bead of ahull
between them ready to be sacrificed.
It has been conjectured this was a
votive altar, erected either to acknow-
ledge or to obtain a safe voyage to the
port of Ribchester. This fine piece
of Roman antiquity Dr. Whitaker, by
favour of Lord Bulkeley, was allowed
to detach from the wall in the year
1814.
Of what a variety of scenes has this
part of the Ribble been the witness!
Here Agiicola placed an encampment
on the northern bank of the river,
This, however, was not a mere military post. Tradition and discoveries
concur in proving it to have been a place of magnitude and wealth. Brass
was probably manufactured here. " Military roads," says Camden, " led to
and from it; one from York, the other from the north by the spacious forest
of Bowland, still visible." Then there was the road hence to Manchester,
called Bride or Broad-street. A spectator placed upon a commanding point
of Bibblesdale, might have seen these noble achievements of the Romans
running through otherwise impenetrable forests north and south by the town;
and the river, then a far more splendid object than now, with the hill-sides up
to the summits of the fells covered with native oak, beech, pine, ash, and
alder; the sea, too, washing the shore, and sails flapping in the breeze. "What
noble forms have those soldiers ! Behold their industry. Listen to the sounds
LANCASHIRE. 235
of their military preparation. And here and there you may with an effort
descry a naked and painted Barbarian^ impelled by a curiosity he could not
resist, secretly watching what is going forward.
The scene changes: you may now behold a more tranquil condition. A
Christian church raises its modest head on the bank, deserted by the ocean,
and enriched by pagan remains. Marshes are redeemed, solid ground appears,
cultivation spreads, and lo ! a procession according to the rites of Mother
Church is winding in pomp along the banks of the river, taking in their way
back to Ribchester the ancient chapel of Stydd. It is the commemoration of
a saint.
How dissimilar the next scene: the clang of arms, the clash of swords, the
flight and the pursuit. They are brothers and fellow-countrymen who thus
engage in deadly strife. That noble form is the Earl of Derby; his opponent
a Shuttleworth. They have now met; and see how they run and fight, past
Ribchester down as far as the eye can penetrate to Salesbury, the position of
which, at the foot of high mountains and narrow passes, has defeated the
Royalist general. We conclude this rapid review of events with the impressive
words of Whitaker : '' It is impossible to take leave without a sigh for the
decay of our ancient gentry. In traversing the left bank of the Ribble from
Walton to Salesbury, we have sxirveyed a tract of warm and fertile coimtry,
once possessed by five knightly families, all resident on their own estates,
aUied by perpetual intermarriages, and forming a society of equals among
themselves. In this tract were four parks, as many manor-houses of first
rank, three of them furnished with domestic chapels; and the vale shaded
and enriched by woods of ancient oak. All these families axe now gone : one
only replaced by a second of equal rank; but with respect to the rest, the
houses axe decaying or decayed, the parks divided, and the woods destroyed."
The regrets of the accomplished writer would not be less, could he now survey
the changes which have taken place since his day, under the influence of
wealth acquired by manufacturing labour and enterprise. Regrets, however,
axe fruitless; yet may we ask, will the successors of the old gentry leave to pos-
terity, as our forefathers did, an inheritance, not only of chivalrous deeds, but
also of lofty conceptions and noble structures? What new style of architecture,
what specimens of pure taste, are the opulent and the religious of this age pre-
paring as a legacy for ages to come? The best we seem capable of doing, is to
imitate without spoiling the works of our ancestors. Let us descend into the
vale. Turn to the right, now, down that narrow path; the building you see in
front is Stydd Chapel, the oldest entire building throughout the north-east of
Lancashire. Before you ap{>roach nearer to it, mark that curious edifice on the
left, with the fine old yew-tree by its side. It is a Roman Catholic foundation, an
almshouse. A Catholic chapel is near, whose minister, the Rev. Mr. Wagstaffe,
is a venerable man, with white hair, above eighty years of age, beloved and
respected by his flock for having spent his long life in deeds of benevolence.
236 BNOLAND IN THB NINETEENTH CENTURY:
Stydd chapel (represented below) seems to have belonged to a guild or'
- - . hospital of high antiquity.
Deeds of bequests carry us
back to a very early period
for its foundation. We spe-
cify one on account of its
singularity: Nicholas Talbot
appoints,1501,apnesttosing
for twelve months at Stydd,
" where Fader and Modcr -
are buried." The chapel is
an interesting object, in the
midst of an interesting coun-
try; the windows somewhat
dissimilar, lancet-shaped,
partly built up and plastered,
with the zigzag ornament
over the top of two ; the arch
of the main entrance, a fine
piece of Norman architecture, hidden and disfigured by an ugly porch, which
we have taken leave to omit in our drawing. Dr. Whitaker says the mixed
style in which the place is executed indicates the age of Stephen. "The inside"
(as it was in Whitaker's day) " of this small neglected edifice is still more
interesting, having had divine service only twice since the B«formation. No
reading desk was ever erected, and prayers are read out of the pulpit, which is
durably elevated on a basis of stone ; opposite appears a stone coffin-tomb of high
antiquity, broken open, and the fragments lying in most picturesque disorder
— the floor strewed with ancient gravestones, some inscribed with Longobardic
LANCASHIRE.
237
letters, HOW too obscure to be retrieved; and by way of contrast to this scene
of squalid antiquity, here lies under a slab of beautiful white marble the late
Catholic Bishop Petre. The stone which was removed on occasion of his
interment yet remains; and the Longobardic characters inscribed around it
have been originally relieved by sinking the surface of the stone around them^
after which the cavity has again been filled by fluid mortar, extremely white,
which gives it the appearance of a rude cameo of two colours. I do not
remember to have seen anything like this on other ancient gravestones."
The place, however, has been cleansed and fitted up for divine service, which
. is regularly performed by that excellent clergyman the Rev. Mr. Hazlewood,
vicar of Ribchester, on the last Sunday in every month, in the afternoon.
Occasionally, indeed, the place seems to be well filled. James Rigley, the
farmer near whose house the chapel is situated, told us that when a certain
Boanerges came, who " had geet fearfii' weel loiked," they were obliged to
take forms into the chapel for the accommodation of the hearers. The edifice
is plain and rude in the interior, with a pulpit on the south side, a broken
railing in order to make something like a division between the chancel and
the nave, a stone floor, hard benches, oak beams bearing the anagram I.H.S. ;
nor least noticeable is the ivy, which has broken in at the east end, and
usurped nearly the whole of the place where the window ought to be seen,
looking both here and on the exterior, not only picturesque, but almost
as aged as the structure itself. Under the pendent festoons of the ivy
stands the communion table,
of plain oak. The marble ^xil
gravestone mentioned above f\^ ^>^
remains. We present two
gravestones, lying just below
the pulpit. Above this sim-
ple rostra, hang a few links
of a chain, shewing that "a
sounding board" had once
graced (it could not be for
use) this tiny place of worship. The pulpit is
ascended by a few broken stone steps, and forms
a part of the rails which parcel off" the commu-
nion table from the rest of the building. Near
the communion table is a recess in the wall,
designed to hold holy water. The accounts we
had read of this antique building had excited
a great interest in our minds in connexion with
it; and we lingered near the place unwilling to
depart, though the untrained eye might pass it by unnoticed, standing as it
does, with somewhat a barn-like appearance, in a common field, near a poor
I
Ch
»88 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY 1
farmhouse. With our feelinge engaged in what we actually saw, we had
nearly overlooked a fine old octagon font, with armorial bearings beautifiilly
carved; and neglected to survey the north side
of Stydd Chapel with more than a cursory
glance. An inspection of it, however, was
rewarded by the eight of this fine old arch.
And now for Kibchester, which has proved
so prolific in the remains of Roman art. The
inhabitants have a jingling proverb, not far
from truth in substance:
We cannot detail all the discoveries that have
been made here; the rarest and latest must
sufBce. We refer to a figure to he found
in Pennant,* as an enigma for the learned.
Pennant mentions having seen a sculpture,
discovered in digging a grave in the church-
yard, which, as being little known, we pre-
sent a drawing of. It represents a Boman
soldier carrying the labarvm vexillum, or
standard of the cavalry. Many valuable
objects have been lost for want of proper
custody. This wc fear has been the case with a ring seen at the beginning of
• " Tour to Aliton Moor," p. 94.
LANCASHIRE. 239
the century, in possession of a poor man who picked it up near the river. The
metal was gold, the stone a cornelian, with a bird engraven, and this tender
motto, Ave, mea vita — adieu, my life.
In 1811, some workmen employed to arrest the encroachments of the river
came to some remainB, which proved on investigation to be of a fine temple,
erected in the beginning of the third century in honour of Minerva. Shortly
after, the sexton in digging in the cemetery met with ruins of columns,
fragments of . ^ ^._
which stand ^ '■- .-■.'^ ""-
now in the
vicarage yard,
having been
portions of this
temple. Fur-
ther search
proved that
the structure
had been of an
oblong shape,
wi& sixteen
columns in
front, and one
hundred and twelve feet in length. In the above drawing two objects appear;
the one a hand millstone, one foot four inches in diameter, and two inches and
a half thick. The other object is a stone, whose use we do not profess to
know; it is six inches square, with an aperture from fr>ur to five inches deep.
These were discovered not long since by Mr. Patchett, surgeon, of Ribchester,
while excavating for the foundations of a house: he turned up at the same
time a number of broken tiles and earthenware, some having figures on them.
About two years ago, while digging in his garden, which adjoins the spot
where the principal coins have been found, Mr. Fatchett discovered an old wall,
which appeared to be the foundation of some edifice now destroyed. On turning
over the earth, however, a square place was laid open, about one yard and a
half deep, and four and a half square. The bottom was flagged on a sort of
clay or cement substratum. The walls were three-fourths of a yard thick, and
filled with similar cement of about half a yard thick. It was a Roman hath.
There were a lead delivery-pipe and an overflow-pipe. Two beautiiiilly paved
footpaths led to the bath, of about one yard and a half in width, and one foot
six inches below the surface of the soil. Prior to the discovery of this bath, a
party of labourers turned up a portion of one of the footpaths when excavating
a neighbouring cellar. We regret to add that the whole of the materials of
this interesting object have been used in erecting a new house.
Christianity was introduced into this place by Paulinus. Ribchester
240 KNGI.AND IN TUB NINETEKNTH CKNTliRY :
originally belonged to the pai'ish of Whalley, but was soon separated from the
parent stock. It now forms a parish in the deanery of Amoundcmess. The
church is an irregular pile. The tower is castellated, and in itself a fine
object. The roof is sup-
ported by stout antique
beams, one of which, a tye-
beam, bears an inscription
written in very singular
characters. The pulpit
bears date 163(>, and is
adorned with curious wood
work.
The chief employment is
weaving, which in some
cases is carried on in con-
nexion with farming opera-
tions. But we heard heavy
complaints of rack-rents
and miserably low wages,
with uncertain work; and
in truth the place has every
appearance of poverty, and offers a painful contrast with the historical
recollections which it awakens, and the beautiful scenery which invites the
eye and gratifies the taste on every side around it.
" I shall catch none to-day," we heard a man advanced in life exclaim in a
melancholy tone, who was anglit^ in the river.
"Why?" we asked; " the day is not inauspicious."
" No; but do you not see that magpie?"
In fact, pynots, that is magpies, according to an old Lancashire super-
stition, are considered birds of ill-omen ; hence the saying, " One *s anger,
two 's mirth, three 's a wedding, four 's a birth." In spring it is considered by
old-fashioned anglers unlucky to see a single magpie; but two are a favourable
auspice, because in cold weather one bird only leaves the nest in search of
food, the other remaining to keep the eggs or the young ones warm; but
when both are out together, the weather is warm, mild, and ikvourable for
fishing,*
Deep was our regret when we found the time had arrived for quitting the
" blessed place,"t as the monis termed Whalley. Mounting the coach we
ascended Wiswall Moor, leaving the place, with its own and the surrounding
' We owe thii eipluiation, ■iid other inforniatioii relating to len generally knowu Lancailiire
cuiloms. Id Mr. J. Lee of Manchetter. oba hna made, te are glad to uj, cooiiderable colleetioni
towards a nev and improved edition of tbe worlii of Tim Bobbin,
^ Locub b^nedictua.
LANCASHIRE. 241
treasures, on our right ; and as object after object faded away, or wdn
hidden by the intervention of a mansion or a bend of the road, we literally
cast many
** A longing, lingering look behind.'*
A different species of country soon opened before and around us. On our
left, high and barren hills ran up, then expanded into moors, with here and
there a clump of poor stone cottages by their side, or a sort of substantial
house, also of stone, erected in the bottom, but in a bleak situation, and being
in reality as cold as it looked. On our right ran the Irwell, which, taking its
rise in the high country of which we have spoken, runs through a picturesque
vale by Haslingden, Bury, Bolton, and falls into the Mersey below Manchester.
We were on the point of entering Haslingden, when a sudden " hurrah!
bravo!" burst around us, and called off our attention from a beautiful view we
were contemplating in the vale below. The coachman at the same time pulled
up, and we perceived, a hundred yards in advance, a number of rude-looking
people intently and silendy beholding two men, who were grappled and
locked in eadi other, leg with leg, arm with arm; now l3dng as still as death,
now rolling with fearful struggles on the high road. It was, we saw, a Lan-
cashire fight; and a Lancashire fight is something far worse than the Pancratium
of old. The native peasantry know nothing of boxing, as such. In their
quarrels they literally fall foul of and maul each other in every possible manner
— ^with the fists, teeth, and feet. Instances have been known in which a nose
has been lost, or a rib broken, or a jaw knocked in, during the scuffle. We
ourselves once saw a brutal fellow, after having mastered his antagonist, and
rescued himself from his gripe, jump suddenly on his legs, and begin to kick
his ribs with his huge wooden clogs. The subject has been sketched by one
who, to the advantage of a life passed among these people, unites an easy,
flowing, and graphic style. Let Bamford, the Middleton poet, describe to
our readers the details of a species of conflict with which few of them perhaps
are familiar. The passage is extracted from his interesting and, by snatches,
poetic little volume, entitled " The Life of a Eadical," a work which ought
not to be limited to a provincial circulation.
'* The combatants were our friend the poacher, and another man, younger
and heavier, who chiefly earned his living by dog breaking, and under-strap-
ping to gamekeepers and their masters. Betwixt the men there had been an
unfriendly feeling for some time, and now, over this potent ale, for it was
good though new, their hostility was again excited and probably decided.
The ring was formed with as much silence as possible. The men stripped to
their waists, and then kneeled down and tied their shoes fast on their feet.
They then dogged for the first grip, much as game cocks do for the first fly;
and after about a minute so spent, they rushed together and grappled, and in
a moment the dog-man gave the poacher a heavy kick on the knee, and was
at the same time thrown violently on the ground on his back, his antagonist
I I
242 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
alighting on him like * a bag of bones.' It was now a ground fight for some
time, and exhibited all the feats of a Lancashire battle, which I take to haTC
been derived from a very remote date, long before the ' Art of Self-defence,'
or indeed, almost any other art was known in these islands. There^was not,
however, any of that gouging of the eyes, or biting the flesh, or tearing, or
lacerating other parts, which are often imputed to Lancashire fighters by
cockney sportsmen and others, who know little about them. It was all fair
play, though certainly of a very rough sort, and as thorough a thing of the
kind as I had ever seen. Doggy, after gaining breath, tried to turn on his
belly, which Poacher aimed to prevent, pressing the wind out of him by his
weight upon the chest as he lay across him, and, at times, throttling him imtil
his eyes started as if they were looking into another world. In one of those
sufifocating agonies. Doggy flung round one leg, and locked it in one of his
opponent's, and in a moment they were twisted together like the knot of a boa
constrictor; and the next. Doggy turned on his belly, and got on his knees.
There was a loud shout, and much cursing and sweaiing; and several bets
were oflTered and taken as to the issue of the contest. Poacher now laid all
the weight he could on Doggy's head and neck, to prevent him from getting
upright. He grasped him below the arms, and kept clutching his throat; and
the latter, for want of breath to carry on with, kept tearing his hands from
their gripe ; both snorted like porpoises, and it began to appear that our friend
Poacher was the worst for wind. Some heavy kicking now ensued, until the
white bones were seen grinning through the gashes in their legs, and their
stockings were soaked in blood. Poacher was evidently a brave man, though
now coming second ; in one of his struggles. Doggy freed himself, and rushed
on Poacher, with a kick that made the crew set their teeth, and look for
splintered bones ; and Poacher stood it, though he felt it. There was another
clutch, and a sudden fling, in which Poacher was uppermost, and Doggy fall-
ing, with his neck doubled under, he rolled over, and lay without breath or
motion, black in the face, and with blood oozing from his eai*s and nostrils.
All said he was killed."
These descriptions must not be considered as presenting a* fair specimen
of the Lancasliire peasantry. It is very true that they are uncivil, nay, rough
in their manners; that their dress is coarse and unsightly; that they seem to
pride themselves rather on a certain broad rude form of intellect, than the
exhibition of gentle or kind affections; — but under this repulsive exterior,
there lives and prevails much genuine excellence; dislike of deceit, aversion
to hypocrisy, honesty in ordinary transactions, truth in word, in thought, in
action; so that when you can once get to a real Lancashire man's heart, you
find something to repay you for your trouble; and if you are invited to par-
take of his viands, you will meet with a welcome not the less sincere and
hearty because accompanied with harsh accents and uncouth phraseology.
"Within their homes the people are truthftd, generous, and affectionate. The
LANCASHIRE, 248
hearth is bright; the simple articles of furniture bright too; a good eight-day
clock, with a well-polished case, is rarely wanting; the mistress, though she
does wear that ugly check handkerchief over her head and down round her
neck, is neat and thrifty; and long and wearying shall be your journey ere
you shall meet with stouter " lads" or better made " lasses" than she has
ground her. In some districts we have seen even mahogany chairs and tables
adorn the cottage.
The race is indeed fast deteriorating, and their mother Saxon becoming
polluted under the multifarious influences which the several tides of popula-
tion, coming from all parts of the kingdom in quest of employment, and
under the attraction of (to the incomers) high wages, have poured throughout
the whole of the country. Nor is it possible to find the pure manners or pure
tongue of this fine race of people, unless in here and there a scattered cottage
placed on the moors and highlands.
In passing from Whalley over the heights down towards the low country,
we from time to time peeped into a cottage, or saw a face, or heard a tongue
which we recognised as of the genuine kind; but it was impossible, on witness-
ing the tokens of poverty which met our sight, emaciated wan countenances,
children unshod, almost unclad, neglected huts, — not to lament that influences
had been at work to break down the strength and impair the moral worth of
the peasantry. Still one or two domestic sights presented themselves to our
notice, which shewed that of a truth
<• love is indestructible,"
and that even poverty and want cannot expel parental affection from the
bosom.
Haslingden — that is, the town of Hazels, lies on the margin of the forest
of Rossendale; — ^would it were a forest now, as of old! Both Haslingden
and Rossendale are within the manor of Acrington, which belongs to the lord
of the honor of Clithero. The land is nearly all in pasture. Manufactures,
both of wool and cotton, have spread throughout the district, prodigiously
augmented the population, and accumulated wealth in the hands of a few
successful tradesmen.
The dialect spoken in these parts is considered to vie with that of the rural
environs of Rochdale in classical purity. We give a brief specimen : — " I
w^un at th' riggin oth' woard! — at th' riggin oth' woard, for th' wetur oth' tone
yeeosing faws into th' yeeost, on th* tother into th' west sees;" — ^which may be
thus 'done into English:' — "I live at the ridge (or apex) of the world! —
at the ridge of the world, because the water fi'om one of the eaves (of the
house) falls into the east, and from the other (side) into the west sea."
In this neighbourhood — so runs the saying — ^^ there are neither men nor
horses^^ for they are all " fellys" (fellows) and " tits."
Passing through Tottington we came to Walmesley, on the banks of the
Irwell, which exhibits the remains of a beacon, erected in the days of Eliza-
244 EXfiLAND IN THE NINETEEXTH rEKTrRY :
beth to rouse the country against the threatened Spanish invasion. In fine
weather, Runcorn, at the estuary of the Mersey, can be descried from this
lofty station. A tower stands on an eminence to the left, erected by the
Grants, who were the first manufacturers of the district. William, the eldest,
has lately deceased. Him and Charles we have seen now for some fifteen
years come in their carriage into Manchester on market-days, seated side by
side, looking of all things like a pair of brothers, happy in themselves and in
each other. The sight is changed: Charles comes now alone, looking bereft
and downcast.
The father was a farmer in Inverness -shire. A flood stripped his farm of
its stock and very soil, compelling a change of place. He and his son William
made their way southwards, and found employment in a print-works near
Bury, where the youth served his apprenticeship. It is said that when they
reached the spot where they settled, they were in doubt as to what course was
best. They stood on a hill, which overlooked the surrounding country, and
gave them every opportunity for making a judicious choice. The valley was
at their feet, and through it the Irwell was making its circuitous way. Their
well-practised eye saw the
advantages which the spot
oficrcd, yet other localities
had their recommendations.
What was to be done? A
stick was put up, and where
that fell, in that direction
would they betake them-
selves for a home. In com-
memoration of this event,
or not improbably as a kind
of public thank-ofiering for
the signal prosperity they
reaped, they caused this
monument to be erected,
which we present as it now
appears.
In this place these re-
markable men pitched their tent, and by years and days of industiy, enter-
prise and benevolence, accumulated a million sterling of money,* earning
* Wa subjoin Lwo or three Iruilworlh^ anecdolo, which will ciemplirj the chancier or Williin
Grant :—
In compinjF with a gentleman vlio had vrilttn and Ictturiid on the advanugei of earl; religious,
moral, and intellectual training. Mr. Grant aiked. '■ Well, how do you go on in eatahlishing aehool* for
inbnts?" llie replf was, " Ver/ eneouraginglj indeed. Wliereier I have gone, t hare succeeded
either in inducing gooiJ people to establish tliem, or in procuring better aupport to tbose that are
already establithed. But I must give over mj labouri; tor what «ith printing bills, eoaeh fiire, and
LANCASHIRE. 245
meanwhile the good-will of thousands, the gratitude of many, and the respect
of all who knew them.
The village of Ramsbottom deserves express commemoration as the scene
of the industry and benevolence of this remarkable family, two of whom
Dickens has made universally known under the name of " The Cheeryble
Brothers.'* This spot must always have been beautiful, favoured so eminently
as it is by nature. We wish our readers could see it covered as we saw it,
other expenses, ererj lecture I deliver in any neighbouring town costs me a sovereign, and I cannot
afford to ride my hobby at such a rate:" He said: " You must not give over your labours. God has
blessed them with success. Hk has blessed you with talents, and Hi has blessed me with wealth. If
you give your time, I ought to give my money. You must oblige me by taking this twenty-pound
note, and spending It in promoting the education of the poor." The twenty-pound note was taken
and so spent, and probably one thousand children are now enjoying the benefit of the impulse that
was thus given to a mode of instruction as delightful as it is useful.
He was waited on by two gentlemen who were raising a subscription for the widow of a respectable
man, who some years before his death had been unfortunate in business. *' We losttSOO/. by him,"
said Mr. Grant; "and how do you expect that I stiould subscribe for his widow? " '* Bvcause,**
answered one of them, ** what you lost by the hud>and does not alter the widow's claim on your bene-
volence." " Neither it shall/' said he. " Here are five pounds. If you cannot make up the sum you
want for her, come back to me, and I *\\ give you five more."
A young student was consumptive, and his only chance for life was removal into a wanner climate,
which he could not afford. It was Mr. Grant's object to devise a pious fraud, by which he could serve
the young man without offending his pride. He said, " We have a vessel which is to touch at M— .
The captain will be glad to have your company so far, and our correspondent will find you lodgings
for the winter at a cheap rate." The student resolved to go. A few days before he sailed, Mr. Grant
said, ** We are sending a young man to our agent by the vessel you sail in. Will you be kind enough
to pay him some attention on the voyage? " The young man was really sent as his nurse ! On their
arrival at M , the agent invited the student to his house till he could procure lodgings for him,
but day after day had to invent fresh excuses for not finding them. At last he said, '* It is such a
comfort to me to have an Englishman to talk to, that you would do me a great favour if you would
take up your abode with me." All this had been arranged beforehand. But death came notwith-
standing. '* Poor fellow,*' said Mr. Grant ; *' but 1 have the consolation of thinking that be never
found out how we had managed for him.'*
Many years ago a warehouseman published a scurrilous pamphlet, in which he endeavoured, but
very unsuccessfully, to hold up the house of Grant Brothers, to public ridicule. William remarked
that the man would live to repent what he had done, and this was conveyed by some talebearer to the
libeller, who said, « O. I suppose he thinks I shall some time or other be in his debt, but I will take
good care of that." It happens, however, that a man in business cannot always choose who shall be
his creditors. The pamphleteer became a bankrupt, and the Brothers held an acceptance of his which
had been indorsed to them by the drawer, who had also become a bankrupt. The wantonly-libelled
men had thus become creditors of the libeller. They now had it in their power to make him repent
of his audacity. He could not obtain his certificate without their signature, and without it he could
not enter into business again. He had obtained the number of signatures required by the bankrupt
law except one. It seemed folly to hope that the firm of " the Brothers " would sifpply the deficiency.
What! they who had cruelly been made the laughing-stocks of the public, forget the wrong and
fiivour the wrongdoer! He despaired; Mr. Grant was there alone, and his first words to the delinquent
were, '*Shut the door, Sir !** sternly uttered. The door was shut, and the libeller stood trembling
before the libelled. He told his tale and produced bis certificate, which was instantly clutched by the
injured merchant. '< You wrote a pamphlet against us once," exclaimed Mr. Grant. The supplicant
expected to see his parchment thrown into the fire I But this was not its destination. Mr. Grant
took a pen, and writing something upon the document, banded it back to the bankrupt. He, poor
wretch, expected to see '< rogue, scoundrel, libeller," inscribed ; but there was, in fair round characters,
846 ENOr.WD IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
with a beauUful grey mist, which gave a peculiar effect to the loftier parts.
The vale is quite flat, and in curvature not unlike a epaciouB baBin. Mark
the singular and beautiful course which the Irwell takes ! Mark also the bold
background made by Holcome Hill. Carry your eye to the extreme left,
and you see what is termed Grant's Farm; in front of which stand Grant's
Cotton Mills. Their church is seen in the direction of the smoke from the
factory. The
large quadran-
gular building
in the bottom
is their printing
establishment.
The village of
Ramebottom lies
above, a little to
< the right of these
works. Just
above the vil-
lage is a wool-
len factory, be-
longing to Mr.
Grundy of Bury; and immediately below is a cotton -spinning establishment,
the property of Messrs. Ashton. But when the Grants first cast their eyes
upon it, the scene was very different from what it is now; less interesting to
the lover of the picturesque, and far less important as a dwelling-place for
man. The quiet operations of husbandry proceeded with no stimulus for the
mind, and but a small comparative creation of industrial wealth. At present,
activity, diligence, health, joy and opulence, have made this valley their own.
The result may serve to shew what manufacturing enterprise may, under
favourable circumstances, achieve for all the better purposes of life. These
benevolent brothers knew what they owed to their fellow-men, whose hands
" neTtr to reriue (igning tlie cerlifi-
re iDTthing elae." Hie tetn (Uried
wu true. I said ;ou would live to
only meAnt tbat Bome day you voiild
11 repent of it no*." "I do, I do,"
mj de«r fellov, you knov ui now. How
It lie had fiiend) who could
.he meantime?" And Did
I, lie bad been compelled lo alint hli
hmily of even common necesiaiiea, iliat lie miglit be enabled lo pay tbe coat of lili certificate. *' My
dear Tellow, thia will not do, your Tainily must not luffer. Be kind enough to Uka thia len.pound
not« to your wife from n>c — there, there, my dear Tellow— nay, don't cry— it will be all well witli you
yet. Keep up your spirlla, aet to work like ■ man, and you will raite your bead amongit us yet."
TliG overpowered man endeaTOured in *aln to eiprets hia thauka. Tbe awelling in bia tbnwl rorbada
wordi. He put hi< bandkerchieT lo bii face, and went out ot the door crying lika ■ child.
tbeaignatureoftbeGrmt '
'•We make ill rule,
"uid Mr. Grant, <
caieoranhonnt
, and we haire never beard t
bat you wen
into tbe poor mi
m'.eye..
"Ah," aaidMr. Gi
■am, "
my aaying i
repent writing ll
>at pamphlet. I did not mean it u
a (hreat. 1 o
know U) better.
and repent
you had tried loinj,
ure ut.
I ace you
■aid tbe grateful
man, <• I I
lilierly repent it." '
' Willi,
well, my de
doyougeton?
What ar.
, you going to do?"
The
poor man il
ataiat bim when
■But
Liow a.e yot
anawer waa, the
I having gi
ven up every farthii
•gtol
LANCASHIRE. 247
had mainly contributed to their a^randisement, and therefore they spared no
expense in the promotion of the moral, intellectual, as well as physical interests
of their workmen. They recognised also His agency and favour, without
whom nothing is good or durable, and accordingly erected a building for his
service, consecrating it to the solemnities of the Scotch church.
We next proceeded to Spring Side, the residence of the late William
Grant, and where the surviving of the two brothers still resides. It is a
very neat modem building entirely surrounded by trees, and cannot be seen
until you are close to it. The spot is very tranquil, and its beauty is much
heightened by the water in the neighbourhood. In this dwelling for many
years had these two men lived, discharging every duty which one brother
can owe or pay to another, and though ordinarily leading a quiet and
retired life, yet occafiionally indulging in hospitalities, which for substance
and heartiness did something to recall the festive entertainments of the olden
days of " merry England." The furniture of the mansion and the whole
appearance of the interior are gorgeous even to an excess, considering the
humble origin and uncultivated minds of its masters.
Crossing Brandlesholme Moss we came to a hall of that name, which is
here depicted. Our survey did not disclose to us any date, but parts are
obviously very old. The gables seem to have formerly been adorned with
tracery, some vestige of which still remains. ITie chimneys are both very
ancient and very ample. Modem repairs detract from the uniformity and
beauty of the edifice. If we may judge by a piece of old wall forming part
of an outhouse, it was formerly much more spacious than it is at present. It
is about 300 yards out of the road on the right-hand side as you go from
Kamsbottom to Bury. This edifice is in the township of Elton, in the parish
ofBury, and was the ancient seat of the Greenhalghes, ITiomas Grccidialgh,
a man of exalted character, served the office of high sheriff for Lancashire in
248 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
1668, and again in 1669 in the reign of Charles the Second.* John Green-
halgh governed and maintained tranquillity in the Isle of Man in the civil wars
from 1640 to 1651, and was saved during the earthquake that occuiTcd in
the island of Juan Fernandez. He was held in high esteem by the valiant
James Earl of Derby.
The next morning we proceeded to walk into Bury to take rest for the
day, for topographers may no less justifiably than others claim for themselves
one day in seven. Much were we struck in seeing the road well lined with
people dressed in their " holiday clothes." Our attention was excited, and
ascending a height to survey the country, we saw other paths alive with
human beings in a similar manner. Vehicles of all descriptions, containing
from three to fifteen merry souls each, were hastening towards the town, and
equestrians in motley groups were wending on in the same direction. We
entered the town before divine service had begun, and were surprised to
find it also filled with persons who looked like visitors; still more, to see
here and there shops open, displaying most temptingly cakes of a brown
hue, well sugared over, and of all dimensions. It was, we learned on
inquiry, Simnel Sunday, and these simnel cakes. It is a custom which Bury
alone has the merit of preserving. On Midlent Sunday, not unfrequently
surnamed Mothering Sunday^ children, parents, and other relatives, who have
left Bury to settle in some neighbouring town or village, pay a visit to their
native place, there to see their friends again, to greet old acquaintances, and,
not least important act in the drama, to eat Simnel cake and drink ale.
At Newchurch and Haslingden, what are termed '* fag pies " and " mulled
ale," are the dainties which are distributed among the middle and lower
classes. These " £ag " or in ordinary English, fig pies, are made substantial
by the addition of bacon, and the '^ mulled ale," or ale heated and spiced, is
sometimes replaced by '* egg-flip." A similar observance is still preserved
at Eccles in this county, where *' braggot " is the favourite beverage, that is
ale with eggs and spices. Midlent Sunday is there denominated ^^ Braggot
SundayJ**
Her mouth was tweet as bracket, or the nieth or herd of apples,
Laid in hej or hetb. — Chaucer.
Whether these festivities now lead to disorders in other places we do not
know, but in Bury the peace is seldom broken, and the town has in general
resumed its ordinary quiet by the early hour of nine in the evening.
The custom arose from the practice of our Roman Catholic forefathers,
who were wont to visit Mother Church on Midlent Sunday, and make their
offerings at the high altar. On these occasions it became usual for relatives to
make each other small presents: children gave their parents a siim of money,
a trinket or some eatable; parents prepared a simnel, a cake for the enter-
tainment of their children. In some places, particularly in Yorkshire,
* Gregson's Fragments.
LANCASHIRE. 249
fwmety^ that is, unground wheat boiled in milk, s-weetened and spiced,
became the customary treat. The following is cited &om Brand:
" I'le to the* Baimnell bring,
Gaintt ibou go'it > moUrriRg;
So that, when ihe blnulh Ihce,
Hair that hitting thou '1l give mc."*
Almost every village or hamlet within six miles of Bury has its rush-
bearing; the custom is easily accounted for, the churches formerly having
neither boards nor flags, and the floor being- composed of clay well trodden
down; rushes were therefore strewed on the aisles to prevent them being too
cold, hence the taking away the old rushes and bringing in firesh ones grew
at last quite into a periodical festival. A well-built rushcart is very difficult
to accomplish, and the whole pageant itself is a very picturesque sight. First
come the band of musicians all gaily dressed, and a smart new banner with
some quaint device upon it; then the fool or half-wit of the village dressed in
the most absurd manner possible, generally a cocked hat, scarlet hunting coat
and hoots, sword in hand, and mounted on a donky; then the cart with the
ruBhes built in a pecuhar fashion like the roof of a house, the gable being to
the firont and sloping down over the wheels, beautifully cut, the edges being
closely shaved, and the triangular space in front adorned with rosettes of ribbon
and streamers, tinsel ornaments, and even watches — the top is surmounted with
a small flag or banner, and astride of all, holding the said banner, a little boy
or a yonng man, sometimes both. The cart is drawn by thirty or forty young
men, two and two, holding high above their heads, ^wlcs, which are fastened
by ropes on each side to the cart, there being to each pole about half a dozen
bells. The young men, and in fact all the persons forming the procession, are
most gaily dressed, the favourite style being straw hats with light blue ribbons,
white shirt sleeves tied with many-coloured ribbons, the brightest handkerchief
* Frumenlum. f Poiiular Amiquilies, vuL i. p. E)3.
250 ENGLAND IN THE KINETEENTU CENTURY :
possible for sashes, and ribbons again below the knee. The cart and its
drawers arc flanked by ten or twelve similarly dressed countrymen, each with
a ht^e new cart whip, which they ply lustily about, and crack loudly in time
to the merry tune of the musicians.
There are but sUght differences in the detail of the rushbearings in other
villages, — at Rochdale, the neighbourhood being very populous, there are
sometimes eight or nine rush carts, each having its band, etc., and they not
unfrequently meet in one of the narrow streets, when generally a pretty stout
battle takes place for precedence, as it is well known that those who arrive
the first at the church always receive a donation of five shillings. It must not
be supposed that these processions occur on the Sabbatb day; the rushes are
procured for the Sunday, but the procession usually takes place a few days
before, the dates of each riishbeariug being calculated by the Sunday previous.
Instead of men, horses now frequently draw the cart; and in most places
the rushes are sold after the festivity, which, from having no small portion of
a religious character, has degenerated into a mere holiday-making.
Connected with rushbearings, there is what is called the Skedlock cart, used
by children in a small cart, wagon or wheelbarrow, made of the yellow
flowers of the large weed charlock, kedlack, or cadlock, in imitation of the
rush cart.
Chamber Hall, in the vicinity of Bury, was formerly the residence of Sir
Robert Peel, father of the present Premier. It is a square red building with
sash windows. The remains
of the old hall are at the
back part of it, and are
partially covered with ivy.
The windows are large,
with bold mullions. The
house is at present in the
occupation of Mr. Hard-
man, who was formerly
foreman to the first Baronet.
The settlement in Bury
of this family conduced
very much to its prosperity.
Its head was a man who
eminently possessed the
qualities which in general
secure commercial pros-
perity; and having by his
steady industry, economy, and well - tempered enterprise amassed a large
fortune, he in the ordinary course of things encouraged the trade and
augmented the opulence of the ncighbomhood. Of his father, Sii- Hobert Peel
LANCASHIRE. 251
has remarked — " He moved in a confined s})here, and employed his talents in
improving the cotton trade. He had neither wish nor opportunity of making
himself acquainted with his native country, or society far removed from his
Dative county Lancaster. I lived under his roof till I attained the age of man-
hood, and bad many opportunities of discovering that he possessed in an
eminent degree a mechanical genius and a good heart. He had many sons, and
placed them all in situations that they might be usefril to each other. The
cotton trade was preferred as best calculated to secure this object ; and by habits
of industry and imparting to his offipring an intimate knowledge of the various
branches of the cotton manufacture, he lived to see his children connected
together in business, and by their successful exertions to become, without one
exception, opulent and happy. My father may be truly said to have been the
founder of our family; and he so accurately appreciated the importance of
commercial wealth in a national point of view, that he was often heard to say
that die gains to individuals were small, compared with the national gains
arising from trade." •
It is usually stated that Chamber Hall was the birthplace of the present
Baronet. This is incorrect. At the time of his birth, his father's residence
was undergoing repairs, and the family had in conseq^uence removed into
a neighbouring cottage; and accordingly under the humble roof which the
reader may here contemplate, he Srst saw the light who is now the prime
minister of the British empire, the chief servant of the most powerfiil sovereign
in the world; a ruler of nobles, and to no small extent, master of the lives
and fortunes of myriads of human beings. This wonderful elevation is the
achievement of the cotton trade! The cottage is built of brick, very limited
in size, and at present in a dilapidated state.
One of the most interesting places in this part of the country, at Goshen,
Bainet'i Laneuhire, lol. ii. p. C7().
252
ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
about a mile and a half on the south side of Bury^ is an old farm-house, the
residence in former times of a family of some note, and still occupied by a
lineal descendant. The family of Unsworth has possessed this property,
according to tradition, ever since the time of the Conquest, and there are
certainly relics to prove its antiquity. The house itself is little worth notice,
but amongst other curiosities that it contains is a carved oak table, which is
a source of some interest as being connected with an old legend. The story is,
that in olden times there lived near here a fierce and terrible dragon, which
resolutely defied the prowess of sundry brave heroes, who woidd fain have
immortalized their names by freeing the country from such a scourge. One
Thomas Unsworth, a warrior of the beforementioned family, more courageous
or more fortunate than the rest, at last succeeded in the attempt; which he
accomplished in a manner that certainly did much credit to his ingenuity.
Finding that bullets were of no avail, he inserted his dagger in a petronel,
and, rousing the anger of the dragon, shot it under the throat at the moment
of raising its head. The table was made' after this event, and it is said, carved
with the dagger by which the monster was shot. Round the table are St.
George and the dragon, the lion and unicorn, the Derby crest (this family
being one of the oldest tenants of the Earls of Derby), and the veritable
dragon which the aforesaid Thomas killed, and certainly if it at all resembled
its ** likeness" it must have been a ferocious looking creature. There is also
hung over the table in the old parlour, a
painting of the Unsworth Arms, which were
given them in former times for deeds of
honour, surmounted by another carving of
the dragon. The crest is a man in black
aimour, holding a hatchet in his hand, and it
is said to be the portrait of the renowned
family ancestor in the armour which he wore
during battle, and in which he was encased
at the time he performed the celebrated feat
which won him so much fame. The armour
was in the possession of the family a few years
since, but not being considered of much value it was partly spoilt and lost.
Whatever credence may be given to this story (and the present family firmly
believe in its truth), it is certain that a portion of land was once granted to one
of their ancestors for having freed the country from some dire monster, of what-
ever kind it might be, and of course the property granted was that said to be
the favoiu-ite resort of the dragon ; nor is it improbable that the large and
adjoining township of Unsworth has originally derived its name from some
one of this family. They also possess several very old books, treasured with
due ancestral pride, and other relics more or less interesting.
We here subjoin drawings illustrative of this legend. Number one is a
rude representation of the dragon cut uj ivood, about two feet long, and one
inch thick; it hangs on nails. The part shaded is painted green; the tongue
and eye are red ; the body brown, with spots or scales. Number two, is the
same animal, as cut on an antique chest, alongside other devices which seem
to be about as exact copies of nature. Number three, gives the same favourite
monster of the Unsworths, on a panel of the
same chest.
The entrance to Bury from the south is
not uninteresting ; several good buildings
present themselves, the road is wide, and
lies on an easy slope. The view, given on
the next page, shews as a prominent object
a new stone building in progress, designed for a Catholic chapel. On one side
it has a school; on the other a residence for the priest. It is a large building,
in the florid style of English church architecture, with an octagon tower, or
lantern. The buttresses, which support the tower, have a very singular effect,
projecting as they do a considerable distance beyond the wall, and making the
lower part appear too small to support the weight. The window over the door
consists of a row of arcades with a niche in the centre. There is a niche on each
side the door, with a richly wrought canopy, intended, we presume, to receive
some sculptured £gure. Large grotesque heads project &om different parts
of the building. The top of the tower, resembling that of Ely cathedral, is
light and pretty. The two side buildings are furnished with labelled windows.
We found httle in the general appearance of the town itself to excite our
interest or detain our steps, though we must not leave its hospitalities without
allusion. We made our way to the church, and found the exterior unsightly.
Within we saw a mural tablet of white marble, with Britannia in bas-relief.
254 ENOI.AND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
holding an urn. On the right hand of the figure is a sca-horso, behind whicli
icebergs fill up the scene. On the right of tic tablet is the stem of the vessel
in the distance, and an elephant's head coming into the tomb, lliis monument,
erected by the inhabitants of the town, bears the following inscription : —
" Sacred to the memory of Robert and George Hood, R.N., sons of the
Rev. Richard Hood, LL. D,, of this town. The former of whom, while
engaged in the Arctic overland expedition, under the command of Captain
Franklin, R.N., after having with unshaken fortitude endured unparalleled
dangers and privations, and by his skill in science essentially contributed to
the utility of the enterprise, was assassinated by an Iroquois, Oct. 20th, 1841 ;
thus terminating at the early age of twenty -four, a short but brilliant career,
distinguished by varied talent and steady determination, which were rapidly
opening a path to the highest honours of his profession. The latter, under
Captain Owen, R.N., employed also in the cause of science off the eastern
coast of Africa, perished by a fever, Feb. 6th, 1823, being twenty years
of age. If his services were less distinguished, and his fate attracted less
public sympathy than that of his brother, he required only a more pro-
minent situation."
A tombstone near the pulpit attracted our attention, and prompted inquiries,
which ted to the following information. The inscription stands thus :
John Partington, died Miircli 14th. 1794, aged 70.
Richard M-Mellon. June 10th. 1630, oged 76.
Williim Scarle, March 32d, lft38, aged 48.
The first was originally a cobbler
" who lived in ■ ilall.
Which aerved him for parlour, kilcben, and ■ll."
Having however saved a little money, he removed from hia single apartment,
took a house, opened a small chandler's shop, was very industrious, and had
very considerable success. By accident he met with the person whose name
LANCASHIRE. 255
stands second in the inscription. M'Mellon was in great distress, and received
an invitation to take a share in Partington's property. They lived happily
together till Partington died. The second becoming possessor of the property,
met with, and received into his house, the third. The first expressed a wish
that the second should lie in the same tomb with himself; the second did the
same in regard to the third ; and, accordingly, all three lie within the same
narrow enclosure. In the midst of the stone inscription is another, on a brass
plate, bearing the same statements, executed by the direction of the last, in
the fear that the stone cutting might too soon be worn away. Like Saul and
Jonathan, they were to each other " pleasant in their lives, and in their death
they were not divided."
Bury is a considerable manufacturing town, in the hundred of Salford,
situated on an eminence between the rivers Irwell and Roach, the former
skirting the town on the west, and the latter flowing to the south-east of the
place. The two rivers unite near Badcliffe, whence under the name of the
Irwell they flow to Manchester. Bury lies to the north-west of Manchester,
at the distance of little more than eight miles, and is a thoroughfare £rom
Manchester to Blackburn, Burnley, and Skipton. Although its present
importance is of modern origin, yet Bury is a place of considerable antiquity.
However doubtfiil it may be whether it was ever a Roman station, there is
little question of its having been a Saxon town, as its name implies ; the Saxon
word "byri," signifying a fortified place. Leland tells us, that near the
church in Castlecroft, stood one of the twelve baronial castles of Lancashire,
which was destroyed by the Parliamentary troops in 1644; fragments of the
building are still occasionally discovered upon digging near its site.
Not far from Bury is a place called Castle Hill, where the court of the
royal manor of Tottington was held, in which the power of imprisonment
and the execution of criminals existed. On the heath near this place. Lord
Strange is said to have mustered 20,000 men in favour of the royal cause, in
1642. In the reign of Henry II. the estates here belonged to John de Lacy,
from whose family they passed to the Burys and the Pilkingtons, and on the
attainder of the latter in the reign of Henry VIL, to the Stanleys, who hold
them now.
The land about Bury is generally a stiff loam, and the town is well sup-
plied with coal and excellent stone, from the immediate vicinity. The general
appearance of the town has been considerably improved by the widening of
its streets, and the removal of many old dilapidated buildings for erections of
a modem style.
There are a public subscription library, a news-room, a botanical institu-
tion, a medical library, a dispensary, for which a neat new building was
erected in 1841, and a mechanics' institution, which has also a news-room.
The staple manufacture of woollen, which is of ancient date, having been
carried on here by the emigrant Flemings, is still prosecuted, though not on
I
I
►
256 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
80 extensive a scale of late years as the cotton manufacture. There are also
in and near Bury, several extensive establishments for bleaching, calico-
printing, iron foundry, and machine making. In consequence of this variety
of branches of trade, and the absence of a speculative character among its
commercial men, distress is seldom so severe in seasons of commercial em-
[ barrassment in this, as in other manufactiu'ing towns. B^ry being situated
on the banks of one river, the Irwell, and skirted by another, the Boach, and
being supplied likewise abundantly with coal, possesses considerable advan-
tages as a manufacturing station. The canal from this town to Manchester
and Bolton conduces materially to its trading prosperity.
Some very important improvements in abridging the labour of the opera-
tives have been effected here. In 1738, John Kay, a native of Bury, but at
the time residing at Colchester, invented the mode of throwing the shuttle
by means of the picking peg instead of the hand; and in 1760, his son Robert
invented the drop-box, by which the weaver can, at pleasure, use any one
of three shuttles, and thereby produce a fabric of various colours, with almost
the same facility as he can weave common calico. The invention of setting
cards by machinery also belongs to this place, and to the ingenious &mily of
the Kays.
Bury is generally a healthy town, though its climate is humid, in conse-
quence of its being situated in the neighbourhood of the lofty mountains
which separate Yorkshire from Lancashire; the average quantity of rain
which falls here, is found to be forty inches in the year. Among the modem
improvements in the town, may be mentioned the erection of a spacious and
handsome market of a triangular form, with an open area, and having fifty
shops, roofed over.
The living is a rectory in the archdeaconry and diocese of Chester. The
oldest dissenting congregation is the English Presbyterian, who in 1837
rebuilt their chapel in Silver-street, the date of which was 1719. The Boman
Catholics, as we have seen, are erecting a handsome chapel to be called St.
Mary's.
The Free Grammar School was founded in 1726, by the Rev. Mr. Kay,
and endowed by him with estates which produce 442/. 0*. 9d, per annum. It
has two exhibitions of 2oL per annum each, continued six years, during
residence at either of the universities. At this school, the late dean of Ely,
Dr. Wood, the eminent algebraist, received his early education, and evinced
his regard for the school by a legacy of 600/. in aid of the exhibitions. Ten
girls receive instruction at this school, 7/. per annum being paid to a mistress.
Another school was founded and endowed in 1748, by the Hon. and Rev.
E. Stanley (formerly rector), for the instruction of eighty boys and thirty girls.
On our road from Bury to RadcUffe, we were somewhat puzzled by hearing
one boy say to another, " Now Tom, here's a craddy for thee." Immediately
the speaker was on the other side of a high hedge. We subsequently learnt that
LANCASHIRE. 257
to " set a craddy," was to shew or lead the way in some bold or daring trick.
This sport was formerly much in use among the Lancashire rustics, but is now
for the most part the exclusive portion of the boys. As may be gathered from
what we have said, it consists of jumping wide ditches, walking on the top of
palings or high walls — any gambol or mad trick that can be thought of, so
as to cause sport at the expense of clumsy novices on failure of their rash
attempts.
The two lads before mentioned were soon joined by others. In a good rough
game of romps which ensued, we frequently heard the words, " greadly," and
*^ fettle." Both are in very common use in the county. The first is equivalent
to properly, well, handsomely; sometimes it is used as an adjective; it is also
pronounced " gradely." Ritson, in his Metrical Romances, uses the word
" graythley." To "fettle" is to put to rights, to repair, cure, improve. " Fettled
ale," is ale warmed with sugar, lemon, and spices; it is used as a funeral
beverage, and taken with currant bread made into small cakes, denominated
" top cakes." We hear also in Lancashire of fettling a horse, that is grooming
it; fettling a clog, namely mending it; fettling a wound, q.d, dressing it.
An agreeable walk of about three miles being accomplished, we turned off
the high road leading from Bury to Manchester on the right, and pursuing
nearly a straight line, in the course of which we passed an interesting old
farm-house lying some distance from the road side, in the midst 'of a meadow,
shortly found ourselves near the church of Radcliffe. The parish is Saxon;
Edward the Confessor held Radcliffe for a manor with two hides of land. A
De Radclive appears to have been its proprietor before the reign of Henry 11.
The family was distinguished as well as, ancient. The chiefs of the family held
the high honour of being sheriffs of the county for several reigns in succes-
sion. The village lies in a curve of land formed by a sweep taken by the
Irwell, which, though the banks on the side opposite to the place present
some degree of boldness with their red fronts, whence the name Red-cliffy is
much less engaging in its scenery than it is somewhat lower down, where it
offers views which, though contracted, are eminently pretty.
Though the exterior of the church possesses little attraction, we obtained
entrance into it, and were in a measure repaid for our trouble. An air of
antiquity pervades the place, tending to infrise a feeling of solemnity into the
bosom. " There," said the sexton, pointing to the north side of the churchy
" lies fair Ellen ;" " and what," we asked, " is her story ?" " O, I do not
believe it." " I asked you not what you believe, but what people say."
" Why, they say, she was put into a pie." " Do they say so now ?" " Yes, I
have heard the story ever since I was a boy ; but I don't think many folk
believe it." The legend runs somewhat thus :
" In times long past. Sir WiUiam de Radclyffe possessed Radclyffe Tower.
His first wife had died in giving birth to her first child, a girl, who when she
grew up became remarkable for her beauty. But in the meantime Sir William
L L
358 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
had mRnied again, and the stepinotlieT, a haughty and ambitious woman,
cordially hated the only person who divided her husband's afiections with
herself. One day, when Ellen was about eighteen years of age. Sir William
went out hunting. This seemed to the stepmother a good opportunity for the
execution of a nefarious design she had long cherished. Calling her daughter
to her, she said, ' Fair daughter, go, I beseech thee, and tell the master cook
that he must dress the white doe he knows of for dinner.' The damsel,
unconscious of any harm, did as she was requested. When she had delivered
her message, the cook said, ' You are the white doe my lady means ; and it is
you I must kill.* In vain did the unhappy victim implore and entreat; and
in viun did a scullion boy offer himself in her place ; the damsel was killed
and made into a pie. In the mean time Sir William's chase had been long
and animated, but he was unable to drive away a foreboding of ill that kept
crossing his mind, and at last he felt impelled to order his retinue to return.
At dinner he called for his daughter to carve for him, as was her wont, but
she appeared not. On asking his wife where she was, she urged as an excuse
that she was gone into a nunnery, but the scullion boy exclaimed, ' 'Tis &Ue;
cut open that pie, and there you will find your daughter." He then related
the sad catastrophe, and the cruel stepmother was condemned to be burned
at a stake, and the cook to stand in boiling lead. The scullion boy was
declared the heir of all his lord's possessions.*
" And so she was buried in that comer, was she?" we asked.
" Ay, thoi^h nought of her was found when they rebuilt the chancel."
We here present a view of part o{ the roof, which is sustained by carved
squares of oak, with tracery at the intersections. Bound the pulpit are raised
letters. Near the pulpit is a flat stone, beneath which hes the Kev. B. Wroe,
bom her& 1641, who earned by his eloquence the epithet of " silver-tongued."
The windows of the church present some stained glass, with figures, as for
instance the BadcUiTe arms. One of these windows, that in what is called
• Pirey'* Rrlrgua.
LANCASHIRE. Sd9
the San Cbapel, is so curious in its construction that we have hud it engraved.
This Sun Chapel was not filled with seats till
about thirty years ago. !
But the glory of this place are the ruins of
the femouH tower, the hall of which was built in '
the reign of Henry IV. The hall was of wood,
and is described so late as the year 1818,
by Dr. Whitaker, as retaining its essential
features. "The old hall" (he says) "adjoining
the tower is forty-two feet two inches in length;
in one part twenty feet, and in another twenty-
eight feet in width. The two massive prin-
cipals which support the roof are the most
curious specimens of carved work we have ever
seen. The broadest piece of timber is two feet
seven inches by ten inches. A wall-plate, on the outside of one beam,
from end to end measures two feet by ten inches. The walls are finished
at the squares with a moulded cornice of oak. The pillar at the right has
neither capital nor moulding, and appears to have been inserted at a later
period, when the hall underwent repair. On the left side of the hall
are the remains of a very cunous window-frame of oak, wrought in Gothic
tracery, but square at the top. Near the top of the hall, on the right, are the
remains of a doorway, opening into what was once a staircase, and leading to
a large chamber above the kitchen, the approach to which was by a door of
massy oak, pointed at the top." The hall has now totally disappeared. An
eye-witnesa described to os the process of its demoUtion with an indifference
of the same nature as led to its removal. The only thing which seems to have
excited his mind, was the massiveness of the timber which its destruction
brought before his eyes. We can never cease to regret that these splendid
relics and interesting memorials of a mode of social existence now for ever
vanished, yet recommended, if not endeared to the cultivated mind by the
£ict, not only of any intrinsic merits it may have had, but — and chiefiy — by
the relationBhip of blood, soil, and institutions which we of this day have with
those Englishmen who were its subjects, should not, in the course of the
vicissitudes of property, have come into the possession of persons more fitted
to appreciate their worth, and more wishful to preserve their existence. And
when one calls to mind the amount of wealth which their manufacturing owners
of the present day possess, one is tempted to yield to a severer feeUng than
that of regret on the subject; for small to these opulent proprietors would
have been the cost of taking effectual measures to transmit, to some extent
unimpaired, to coming ages the precious monuments of the past. Nor are we
sure that some claim on the score of morality might not be established by the
English people, requiring the fortunate inheritors of these relics to preserve
860 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
them for the general good. The land of England belongs to its people. The
civilisation and the civilising influence of the land are equally theirs. It is
enough for wealth to build its mansions, gather in the harvests, and cut up
the fair spots of the land for coal and steam. There is a limit to its rights.
They do not extend to the destruction of our history, whether written on
parchment or on the ivied battlement. The country is ours, its battle-fields,
its abbeys, its halls. If the English people yield to the novi hominet of the day,
what these same self-made men consider the snbstantials of the feast, surely it
may be required as a condition that they shall leave uninjured to posterity the
garniture and the graces, the evergreens and the wild-flowers by which the
' repast is embellished.
Radcliffe Tower also has been subject to depredations, in order to supply
materials for building cottages for manufacturing workmen, but is nevertheless
a fine old ruin. The graver will give a better idea of what it is than the pen,
and we therefore ask the reader's attention to the view of the interior which
is here represented. As if to make this ruin appear more ruinous, there
stands, at the distance of a few yards, a very handsome modern edifice,
appropriated to the purposes of the Wesleyan Methodists; the elegance of
which is the more noticeable &om being in the midst of buildings of an
ordinary, not to say mean appearance. This building, the cost of which was
above 5000/., was erected and presented to the Conference by Mrs. Bailey,
bleacher, of Radcliffe.
Passing a turnpike, we turned on the left, and came to a part of the
village which runs curiously up two sides of a steep hill. We then came to
Stand, a village which is interesting no less irom its scenery than £rom being
LANCASHIRE. S61
the spot where rich Manchester merchants have built mansions, whose solidity
appropriately typifies the opulence of their owners. We thought " the Park,"
the residence of Mark Philips, Esq., M.P. for Manchester, eminently beautiiid.
For fine home views, with bold undulations of the surface — undulations ao
harmoniously arranged as to excite a momentary suspicion that they are
artificial — we have seldom seen these grounds surpassed. And great ia the
pleasure with which we record the feet, that the venerable father of the
" honest member" has spent a life extended beyond the usual measure in a
course of integrity and wise beneficence, which have deservedly gained for
him the respect of bis equals, and the esteem and heartfelt gratitude of the
poor of his neighbourhood. A &ct may be named which redounds to his
credit. The late ministry ofiered Mr. Philips a baronetcy. He declined the
honour, not only because he had no ambition to gratify, but also lest the
acceptance of it might, by any possible misconstruction, tend to diminish the
usefulness of his son as an ind.ependent member of the legislature.
We followed the course of the Irwell, over rugged ground, but with that
lightness of step which lovely scenery always gives, and arrived at Frestwich.
A more picturesque spot we have rarely seen than " Prestwich clough." A
number of eminences throw up their finely rounded heads in well arranged
grouping, and through the midst runs a woody tangled glen. The well-
proportioned church stands just above the "clough," overlooking the uplands
firom more than one spot, on which it appears to a great advantage, as this
picture shews. In the churchyard lie the remains of the beloved wife of that
distinguished actor, Charles Young ; who, during nearly thirty years, never
paid a professional visit to Manchester without resorting to the spot — a pious
pilgrimage in honour of the worthiest of beings, a worthy and loving wife.
Here also rests Henry Wyatt, interred not long since by two brother artists,
on a bright sunny day, the birds singing in the heavens j a burial, such as a
262 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
true lover of art would desire. We noticed in the churchyard a curious
tombstone, bearing date iCo DMl, 1641, which told us, " Here lyeth the
bodies of the children of Thomas Collier, Bichard, Mary, John, and Martha ;
who were buried between the Ist and 12th of December." The words are
few, their substance commonplace; yet what an amount of human feeling
do they imply; four children dead and buried within eleven days! That was
a mournful house. How much suffering of body on the part of the young,
thus swept away in the joy and vigour of the springtide of life: how much
distress of mind on the part of the parents, thus doomed to be suddenly refl
of those whom nature and affection had riveted to their heart.
Entering the venerable structuie our eye fell on a mural monument, which
recorded the decease of one who reached ^' a good old age," serving his Divine
Master faithfully till his day's work was done, and the virtue of his character
was matured. The inscription tells a tale no less true than honourable. "On
the 22nd day of March, 1833, the Rev. James Lyon, M.A., of Brasenose
College, Oxford, completed the 50th year of his resident incumbency as rector
of this parish. In commemoration of which event, and in testimony of the
affectionate regard and attachment of his parishioners, this tablet, erected
by public subscription, is placed here to record their estimation of a cha-
racter distinguished alike for simplicity of manners, and integrity of principle,
by the peaceable and conscientious discharge of his duties as a Christian
pastor." The monument is surmounted by a bust of the truly reverend man ;
and at the bottom he is sculptured as administering the sacrament. The
workmanship is well-conceived, and chastely executed. Those who had been
accustomed to see the rector himself — ^his spare figure, his bland countenance,
his few grey hairs, his slightly bending frame, will not cease to be glad that
they find in this monument a means of perpetuating their recollections, and
of reviving their feelings. Nor is it easy to look on such a memorial without
feeling a satisfaction in the thought, that the moral beauty of those features
will, now that they are entrusted to the safe custody of marble, pass
down through many generations ; and as they pass, inert and lifeless though
they are, silently but effectually tend to call forth, encourage, and strengthen
feelings in human hearts, congenial with those which that look displays.
And it is by holding and presenting to public view, in many a monument, the
ripened fruits of Christian holiness ; as well as by consecrating and perpetu-
ating the sacred emotions of piety, charity, and truth, for the furtherance of
which they are designed, — ^that the churches of this land of ours, England,
(heart-thrilling word !) are to be held among the best bequests of the past to
the present; and cannot be contemplated otherwise than with respectful
regard by those who love their country, or honour their faith with an
enlightened and cultivated mind. To us certainly this same village church
of Prestwich has long been an object of deep respect. In what various moods
of feeling have we been pleased to cast our eye upon its interesting outline. In
LANCASHIRE. S63
joy and in sorrow, in hope and despondency; with a heavy and with an elastic
step; at the earliest matin of the lark, and under the lengthened shadows of
departing day ; we have been wont to greet Prestwich church. And yet its
exterior is easily surpassed. What then is the secret of the charm ? To us
there is something in its proximity to a laige and unsightly city; it is the first
truly rustic sight on which the eye, dimmed by the smoke of Manchester, fidls,
as you pass on to the North. There is something also in old and frequently
renewed associations. The edifice serves as a link to bind together different
parts of our moral being. It serves also as a memento of early as well as of
recent emotions ; early and recent, those of the youth, and those of the mature
man, all now, alas! irrevocably gone. But chiefly is the church venerable from
the holy purposes for which it is designed, and the sacred results which it
has secured. It is a Christian church in a retired village of our own mother
country.
We pursued the leading of the aforenamed deft which brought us over
many a pretty view to Agecroft bridge, near which is Kersall Hall, a by no
means inconsiderable relic of the past. Every town and village at least
in these parts of the country have annual celebrations termed wakes. The
custom originated with the old religion of the country. Brand says, '^ it has
been an ancient custom among the people of this island to keep a feast every
year upon a certain week or day, in remembrance of the finishing of the
building of the parish church, and of the first solemn dedicating of it to the
service of God, and committing it to the protection of some guardian saint or
angel." As now observed, the wakes are scenes of riotous festivity, accom-
panied by much gaudy show. They still subsist in vigorous life, and serve
to shew that there are cases in which evil has a better tenure of existence than
good. True, the wakes may be of use in occasioning visits between scattered
members of a fiutnily; but the low and unworthy enjoyments which ensue
are a great drawback, if they do not even make the ill effects preponderate.
We found the railway train proceeding firom Manchester to Bolton. The
line runs through the vale of the Irwell, which for several miles offers many
a pleasant resting-place for the eye. The scenery on the right hand is set off
by mansions and plantations which line and crown the sides of the hills. The
Park, Prestwich church, and the new church at Stand, come into view in
immediate succession, to engage and gratify the mind. As we approached
nigher to Bolton, other steam chimneys besides its own arose before us ; and
at Ringley, and other places, coal-pits are numerous along the line. It was
curious to observe running side by side of each other these methods of com-
munication and intercourse — ^the river, the canal, and the railway, not unfitly
representing three very dissimilar and distant states of society.
Reciprocity seems blended with Easter. In the rural parts of Yorkshire it
used to be customary for the young men on Easter Sunday to disburden their
sweethearts of their shoes. The compliment was returned by the girls the
»«- j^ •>^- . tr**^* ^< i* « — "•T'^W^ TT ^— VT
264 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
fl
next day. Wednesday brought restitution, but not unaccompanied with small
pecuniary penalties, which were expended in providing an entertainment
termed a tansey cake. A less poetic instance of reciprocity was that which we
find in the old, we hope now obsolete, usage, namely, that on Easter Tuesday
wives flogged their husbands, who on the following day flogged* their wives.
This '* tit-for-tat" sort of observance we saw duly honoured on Easter Monday
between Radclifle and Bolton.
A number of females surrounded a male, whom they mastered, and fiiirly
lifted aloft in the air. It was a merry scene. What humour in the faces of
these Lancashire witches. What a hearty laugh. What gratification in their
eyes! The next day would bring reprisals; the girls" were then the party
subjected to this rude treatment.
Still rougher is the practise of what is designated stang-riding. When a
man is known to have been guilty of domestic unfaithfulness, he is seized by
some of his acquaintances, placed in a chair, fastened to a ladder, and carried
on men's shoulders up and down the place. Something of this kind we saw
ourselves in the present month of April, in a neighbouring town. The wife
of a dealer in potatoes and herrings became jealous, and immediately a set of
lads, urged on by the woman, procured two effigies stufled with straw, which
they paraded about the streets, preceded by one boy with a horn, and another
beating an old can; some whistled and shouted, whilst two others bore sticks
with potatoes and herrings stuck on the top.
'^ Buck'thangingy* a corruption of Buck-thwanging, is another Lancashire
punishment. The person is taken by the arms and feet, and liftied up and
down with occasional heavy bumps on the ground. i
There is still another custom of this kind called " Packsheeting.^* When
two persons have been united in wedlock, if either party has had other sweet-
hearts, the unsuccessful are taken by their companions and tossed in a wool
paoksheet, with a few hearty knocks on the ground purposely inflicted, until
the patients consent to .pay a small fine to be spent for the general good. This
imposition is termed " paying socket."
The eve of All Fool's day is not without its appropriate rites, though the
custom we. are about to mention is fast dying away.. The amusements are,
tying fast the latch of the door, and blowing the ftimes of burning asafcetida
through the keyhole, smearing the handle with tar, stopping the chimneys
with straw, etc. This time is, with good reason, called " mischief night."
Bolton was given by William the Conqueror to BrOger de Poictou. The
parish however is modem. It contains about 12,938 acres, lying in the hundred
of Salford. The town is said to be of Saxon origin. It suflered severely in
the civil wars. The principal trade is the cotton manufacture and subsidiary
branches, as bleaching, calico-printing, machine-making, etc. There are in
the parish above thirty coal mines. A lead mine is found at Anglezark, and
* Dunmd, lib. ▼!. c 86. Verherant is the word employed in the Latin original.
11 I I II ■■^^^•^■v
LANCASHIRE. ^ 265
Blackrod contains a sulphur spring. The public buildings are not numerous,
and the town in general has an air of substance rather than elegance.
The country for six miles round this town has undergone very considerable
improvements within the last few years, in common with the whole manufac-
turing district, of which Manchester may be considered the centre. Villages
have sprung up where there was not a dwelling, and hamlets have become
the seats of a dense population. Egerton, on the Walmsley side, is an example
of the first; as Farnworth and Halshaw Moor, on the Manchester side, are
of the second. Indeed, few of the circumjacent villages do not shew an
extraordinary increase. The result has been to introduce various improve-
ments in roads, bridges, institutions, churches, and chapels.
Some idea of the changes that have taken place in this district may be had
from this fact, that within six years new churches have been built by sub-
scription in the following places : at Astley Bridge ; at Walmsley, a beautiM
structure in a most picturesque spot; at Turton, a handsome building on the
site of a former church, commanding an extensive view of one of the most
picturesque hill scenes in Lancashire; at Harwood, on the north east; at
Halliwell; not to name two or three others which are projected within the
same district in other directions.
In the town of Bolton itself a new church, Immanuel, has been opened on
Bolton Moor, Cannon-street, the history of which is creditable to the vicar.
A public subscription was opened to present him with some plate, as a present
for his services in the Sunday-school, etc., about four years since. It iSoon
amounted to six or seven hundred pounds, which he proposed should be
made the basis of a subscription for a new church. The plan was speedily
carried into effect, and a very good building, at the cost of about 2000/.,
or less, has been consecrated and endowed. Large Sunday and Infant
schools are now erecting opposite to the church. The new churches above
mentioned, and several others in this town and neighbourhood, have been
benefited by a grant, made last year, out of the fund for the improvement of
small incomes, etc., imder Lord John Eussell's Bill. A new ecclesiastical
district has also just been apportioned, and published by the Bishop of the
diocese. It divides the whole borough into as many districts as there are
churches and chapelries, but not to take effect during the life of the present
vicar. Among the new churches we ought to have mentioned Christchurch,
formerly a chapel belonging to the Methodist New Connexion, the minister
of which conformed last year, and persuaded his congregation to conform along
with him. The chapel was mortgaged to its value, and the fadier-in-law of
the minister was its high-priest. No new dissenting chapels have been
opened for many years, but a splendid Catholic chapel and schools are about
erecting, and it is also reported that a site is purchased for a Scotch chapel.
The chief alterations in the town, not noticed in former accounts, are
connected with the railway from Bolton to Preston, which was opened as far
U K
266 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
as Chorlcy at Christmas. The first mile of it, from the junction with the
Manchester, Bolton and Bury Railway, is considered a fine specimen of
engineering skill. It runs through the south-west side of the town in a curve,
and crosses nine streets, under as many bridges. It is not a tunnel, but open
where it is possible at the top. The construction of the roofs of the bridges
is much admired. Tliey consist of cast-iron beams, and present a flat surface
to the eye of the spectator, underneath. The only stations are at Horwich,
Chorley, and Euxton ; at which latter place, three-and-a-half miles beyond
Chorley, it makes a junction with the North Union to Preston. The whole
line is expected to be completed before the end of this year. A tunnel of
considerable depth, a mile north of Chorley, is the part which remains to be
completed. When this is finished, there will be a direct line of railway due
north to Lancaster, firom Manchester to Bolton.
We strolled into the churchyard, and copied the following inscription
from a gravestone —
'< John Okey the senraiit of God was borne in London 1608 came into this towne 1629 maried
Mary the daughter oF James Crompton of Breightmet 1635 with whom be lived comfortably 20 years
& begot 4 sonns & 6 daughters since then he livvd sole till the day of his death In his time were
many great changes & terrible alterations 18 years civill wars in England besides many dreadfull sea
fights the croMn or command of England changed 6 times episcopacy laid aside 14 yeares London burnt
by papists & more stately built againe Germany wasted oOO miles 200000 prutestants murdered in
Ireland by the papists This towne thrice stormed once taken & plundered He went through many
terrible & divers conditions found rest joy & happiness only in holiness the faith feare and loTt of God
in Jesus Christ He dyed the 29th of Ap & lieth here buried 1684
Come Lord Jesus O come quickly.
Af^er the death of this " servant of God," the great siege took place, when
the Earl of Derby stormed the town and dislodged the Eepublican troops.
This achievement was the cause of his being beheaded in the town. We
give a drawing of his execution taken from an old print. Lancashire bore no
mean part in the wars between Charles and the Parliament.
We have spoken in our notice of Wigan, of the gallant bearing of the
Earl of Derby in that place,* and also in that of Knowsley, of his con-
* The following graphic account we transcribe from a rare work, * A Description of the Memorable
Sieges and Battles in the North of England, that happened during the Civil War in 1642, 1648. Bolton,
1785.* <* His lordship had two horses killed under him, and was seconded and remounted both times
by a faithful servant, a Frenchman, who then lost his life by his master's side ; on the third charge,
upon the fall of Lord Wiihrington, his lordship mounted his horse, and being seconded by six
gentlemen of his party, fought his way through a great body of the enemy into the town ; when his
lordship quitting his horse, leapt in at a door that stood open, and immediately shut it before the
enemy could reach it, and the woman of the house kept it shut until such time that his lordship was
conveyed to a place of privacy, where he lay concealed for many hours, notwithstanding the most
industrious search of the enemy.
** Of the six hundred (at the beginning of the fight) gentlemen with his lordship, he lost at least
the half, himself having received seven shots upon his breastplate, and thirteen cuts upon his beaver,
which he wore over a cap of steel, which was taken up in the lane after the battle. He also received
five or six slight wounds in his arms and shoulders, but none very dangerous. Perhaps this age has not
seen or known an action of greater bravery where 600 horse fought 9000 horse and foot, in a disadvan-
tageous place for two hours together, leaving 700 dead upon the qiot, besides the wounded, with the
loss of 300 only.'*~p. 182.
LANCARHIRE. 267
dcmnation. Ad account of his capture the Earl gives in a deeply interesting
letter to his lady, then in the Isle of Man. " I escaped a great danger at
Wigan, but met with a worse at Worcester; being not ao fortunate as to meet
with any one that would kill me, and thereby have put me out of the reach
of envy and malice. Lord Lauderdale and I having escaped, hired horses,
nnd falling into the enemy's hands were not thought worth killing, but had
quarter given us by one Edge, a Lancashire man." He adds with Bimple
pathos, " I thought myself happy in being sent prisoner to Chester, where
I might have the comfort of seeing my two daughters, and to find means of
sending to you ; but I fear my coming here may cost me dear, unless Almighty
God, in whom I trust, will please to help me some other way : but whatsoever
come of me, I have peace in my own breast, and haye no discomfort at all
but the afflictive sense I have of your grief, and that of my poor children,"
His progress &om Chester to the scaffold at Bolton was attended by
numerous displays of respect, affection, and regrets. In the town the people
refused to strike a nail in preparation for the execution, which was therefore
delayed till late in the day. " On his going towards the scaffold, the people
cryed and prayed on every side." He calmly ascended it, sat himself down,
and began to address those who were afisembled. On his uttering the words,
' I die for God, the king, and the laws,' he was interrupted by a brutal trooper,
who exclaimed, ' We have no king, and will have no lords' A disturbance
ensued, the soldiers fell upon the spectators; and fearful of the consequences,
the noble-minded Earl desisted from speaking, and handed his papers to his
servant, with a command that he would make their contents known. The uproar
268 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
was now over. The Earl asked for his executioner, and extending his hand for
the axe, said, * Come, friend, give it into my hands, I'll neither hurt thee nor
it; and it cannot hurt me, for I am not afraid of it.' He kissed and returned
the instrument. He asked to see the block; it was not ready: lifting his eyes
towards heaven, he said, 'How long, good Lord! how long?' Giving the
headsman two pieces of gold, he added, * This is all I have, take it and do thy
work well, and when I am upon the block and lifting up my hands^ then do
your business ; but I fear your great coat will hinder or trouble you, pray put
it off.' Passing to the side where his coffin stood, he saw one of his chaplains,
and said, * Sii', remember me to your brother and friend. You see I am ready,
but the block is not.' He then said, * Good people, I thank you for your
prayers and your tears. I have heard the one and seen the other.' He then
desired the block to be turned towards the church, declaring, * I will look
towards thy sanctuary while I am here, and hope to live in the heavenly
sanctuary for ever hereafter.' After this he took off his doublet, and saying,
* how must I lie; I never saw any one's head cut off, but I'll try how it fits,'
laid himself down on the block, and rising, bade the executioner ' do his
work' with care. Imploring the prayers of his friends who were near, and
having made a short supplication in private, he bowed himself and added, * the
Lord bless my wife and children, and the Lord bless us all.' Finally he laid
his neck on the block, saying, * blessed be God's holy name for ever and ever.
Amen. Let the whole earth be filled with his glory.' He gave the signal ;
his head was severed from his body; nothing was heard in the town but sighs,
sobs, and prayers.
When his body was laid in the coffin, there were thrown into it the
following lines by an unknown hand:
" Wit, bounty, courage ; all three here in one lie dead,
A Sunley's hand, Vere*8 heart, and Ceciirs head.**
The next day his corpse was conveyed to Ormskirk, and there deposited witli
his renowned ancestors, to mingle his ashes with theirs.*
As we passed down the main street in Bolton, we heard a tall, stout, clog-
footed man say to one who walked beside him, " Noa wonder he betrayed
thee, he is not jannock." Inquiring as to the meaning of the term jannock,
he informed us that it is a loaf made of oatmeal leavened; as this kind of food
is considered good and nutritious, the word has come to signify that which is
morally excellent; that which is sound, firm, unflinching; that which is fair
and honest. We may here mention another favourite Lancashire edible,
" Thar-cake," probably hearth-cake, which is made of oatmeal, treacle, butter
and seeds. In Yorkshire it is termed sweet-parkin.
The halls in this neighbourhood must have been numerous at the time of
the contest between the Stuarts and the Eepublicans. One of the regicides,
* Tliis account is given from " A Description of the Sieges," etc. before mentioned, which has
also furnished us with the original of our wood-cut of the execution.
LANCASHIRE. 269
Colonel Bradshaw, had a seat about one mile and a half north-east of the
town, at Bradshaw Chapel. This was not the place where he generally
resided. It might have fallen into his hands amid the confiscations of the
times. Bradshaw Hall is an interesting square building, with narrow windows
divided by stone mullions. The outbuildings have long been converted to
purposes more akin to the character of our own days and the vicinity in which
it stands, being devoted to the cotton trade. About twenty years ago they
were bleach works, but now the block and cylinder printing trade is carried
on in them to a great extent. The occupants are Messrs. Bitcham and
Callender.
Hall-in-the-Wood (formerly the seat of the Starkies), one mile from
Bolton, is at present used as a £urm-house and cottages. It is a good specimen
of the Elizabethan style of architecture, and has been taken as a model for
modem buildings of that school.
We proceeded, as previously advised, to a spot termed after the true
Lancashire iashion, " Back o' th' Bank," and certainly found the view very
good, but too large for our purpose. It would make a fine panorama in n
picture. At a short distance we saw a hall standing on a bold piece of rocky
ground. The position is admirable, and the approach to it very picturesque.
After fallowing a green shady lane for about a mile, we descended a steep
hill, at the bottom of which is an avenue of trees ; on the right a wide stream
of water, and on the left broken ground, covered with briers and fern. The
stream is crossed by a long wooden bridge, just wide enough for a horse to
pass. The principal feature in the house from this point is a large bow-
window, with mouldings, balls, and other ornaments, of a later date than
&e house itself.
The hall is a
superior speci-
men of the half-
timbered style.
The road up to
the house ap-
pears to have
been cut from
the solid rock, is
very steep and
circuitous; but
we were well
repaid for our
trouble. The
oldest part of the edifice which we here shew, seems never to have suffered by
improvements of any kind ; no square sash windows in apertures which should
contain leaded lights, although the square entrance, vrith its stone-mullioned
270 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
windows, has evidently been built since the original erection of the house
itself. There is here a stack of chimneys consisting of three square shafts,
placed lozengeways, with a bold moulding on the top. We direct the reader's
eye to a very wide window, having twenty-four lights. This is called Cromp-
ton's window; the open part shews where his bench was. In that room one
of the greatest improvements was devised and effected in the spinning of
cotton. Samuel Crompton, residing in this old part of Hall-in-the-Wood,
there invented the mule, a machine so called from combining the principles oi
the spinning-jenny and the water-frame.* That window and that room cannot
be regarded without a deep interest. Of how many human beings did the
lives and fortunes hang in suspense, as the thoughts and expedients of Cromp-
ton's mind there came, went, trembled, grew firm, and finally were carried
into effect. We regard the spot as one far more interesting than the san-
guinary battle-fields on which our fellow-creatures have been so often immo-
lated, wives widowed, children orphaned, the resources of nations destroyed,
to gratify the caprice of demented rulers, or serve the purposes of individual
ambition.
We could not discover any date on the hall or arms. In a panel over the
arch is a sundial, and below it a labelled window of eight lights. From the
door we enjoyed a beautiful view of Bolton and the surrounding coiintry. In
the garden we found some fine beech trees; one very high, and almost perfect
in shape, below which is an old stump of a tree used for a seat. With the
exception of this beech, the trees are small. The hall stands at the northern
extremity of the township of Tonge, and was once the seat of the Norrises.
Proceeding out of Bolton in a northerly direction, we passed through
Astley Bridge, and having SmithiUs Hall on our left. Sharpies and Bradshaw
Hall on our right, soon became aware of making our way into an elevated
region. Turning off the road and keeping onward for about two miles, we
came to the object of our search — Turton Tower. Turton is a large township
within the parish of Bolton. The prospects throughout the district are
extensive, and often romantic. A large hill, called Turton Height, runs
nearly through it, dividing it into two parts. This hill is seen from a con-
siderable distance ; and from several spots on its summit we enjoyed some fine
prospects. The whole township was given by William the Conqueror to a
person named Orrell, as a reward for military services. One of that family
built Turton Tower, and gave the workmen a penny a day each. The
expense, it is said, was so exorbitant as to cripple the Orrell family, and they
were never able to recover from its effects. After many struggles, they first
mortgaged the township, and subsequently sold it to the celebrated Humphrey
Chetham, in whose honour it has long been, and is still contemplated to
erect a monument on these heights. Few worthies of past ages are more
deserving of the distinction. Several of the Orrells still reside in Turton and
the neighbourhood.
• See pnge 46.
LANCASHIRE. S71
It was late in the evening when we came near the tower. We found the
scenery in its immediate vicinity eminently picturesque. The country is
mostly moorland, with a few sheep nibbling here and there. A tall chimney
rising occasionally in the vales had a curion^ effect. We had the gratification
of beholding a fine sunset here. The hillB in the extreme distance wore a
beautiful crimson colour; the middle parts were in deep brown, with a few
purple tints from the heath. The tower was lighted up by the sun, and had
its appearance much improved, as the black of the timbers was mellowed, and
the cold white plaster warmed. The harsh, crude effect which houses of this
lund in the North present was thus destroyed. Turton Tower is a fine old
turreted building, with a farmhouse adjoining. Its square form gives a great
appearance of solidity to the whole of the building. A part has been restored
by the present proprietor, but with strict regard to the original style of
architecture. The same taste is displayed in the restorations within. It has
one fine and noble old room, in which the only furniture some time since — a
friend informs us — was a large and heavy old coffer, lined inside with iron,
respecting which various tales have been told. At present the place is well
and appropriately furnished. There is a tradition of its being haunted. It is
now in the possession of James Kay, Esq., formerly of Pendleton near Man-
chester, who purchased it of Messrs. Hoare. Mr. Kay has fitted up the place
in a very judicious and hberal manner, and makes it his residence. The door
at the main entrance is of massive oak, with long hinges and large nails: a
sort of portlet in it serves for the ordinary purposes of ingress and egress. In
the entrance-hall the eye is arrested by two large bronzed figures on pedestals.
272 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
and a fine old chair or porter's seat. The dining-room we found wainscoted;
the panels over the chimney-piece are very deep. What most struck us was
a splendid sideboard of carved oak. All the furniture and adornments here,
even to the paper on the walls, are in character with the style of the building.
A noble staircase, with banisters in the boldest fashion of polished oak,
conducted us up stairs. We were highly gratified on entering the drawing-
room. It appears in our engraving with a window open. It has now a very
different appearance fi'om that which it wore when our friend saw it with an
old chest for its sole furniture. A most beautiful ceiling here has been well
restored. It is a scries of panels in the Elizabethan manner, worked in a bold
and fiowing style of tracery. In the centre of every alternate panel there is
an elegant pointed pendent, about eighteen inches long. The cornice also
is very rich. The walls are paneled in a correspondingly noble manner.
Cabinets, tables covered with articles of verttt, all of oak and richly carved,
together with oak chairs, high-backed and set off with crimson damask,
conspire to enhance the singular beauty of this apartment. We next entered
what is termed " Humphrey Chetham's room," in which we saw the finest
old bedstead that our eyes were ever gratified with a sight of, bearing date
1593. It is of massive carved oak. The posts are cut in gorgeous patterns^
and contain each in the pedestal at the bottom a sort of capacious cupboard or
press. At the head is a handsome carved ornament, supported by caryatides
beautifully sculptured. We can find room only to specify " Ann Chetham's
boudoir," with its carved oak ceiling, oak octagon loo-table (what a rich
pillar !) Gothic chairs, bearing Mr. Kay's crest, a griffin with a key, another
handsome antique bedstead, etc.
How dififerent a scene does the place present under the care of its present
estimable owner from what it bore no long time ago, when it was appropriated,
as it had been for many years, to the uncongenial purposes of an ordinary
farmhouse.
About half a mile from the town is a village named Chapel Town, in which
an annual fair for cattle is held — too commonly a scene of very great disorder.
A little above Chapel Town an immense reservoir has recently been
formed, as a feeder for dififerent mills between there and Manchester. TTiough
lying partly in Turton it goes by the name of the Entwistle reservoir.
On the south side of Turton height we saw some remains of a Roman road.
A friend had traced it for several miles. It appears as if it came from Man-
chester, and stretches forward in a direction between Preston and Ormskirk.
Within about 200 yards of this road in Turton-higher-end, a resident, whilst
draining, found about thirty years ago, a curious relic in copper, shaped
something like an axe, which an antiquary of our acquaintance immediately
recognised to be the head of an old British standard. Its weight is fourteen
ounces and a half; it was evidently heavier when perfect, as the ring on its
side, through which the cord of the fiag ran, is broken oflT, and the lower end
of the double groove has been also mutilated.
LANCASHIRE. 273
On Turton Height, and on the south-east end of it, is a large sheep pasture,
which is named Chetham's Close. Nearly on the summit of this close,
but inclining to the north east, are the remains of a Bardic temple, the diameter
of which is about seventeen yards. There are only six stones of the circle
remaining, and these are sorely mutilated. The circle is as perfect as if traced
by the compass ; and, what is rather singular, an upright stone stands about
thirty-seven yards, nearly east, from its outward range ; and another about
seventeen yards, due south.
An account has been given to the public* of the Scull House, otherwise
Timberbottom, in Turton. We went thither, and examined the skulls. One
of them is much mutilated, but the other is whole, with the exception of the
left side, which is cut through as if by a blow from an axe. The farmer's
wife told us that they are obliged to keep these skulls in the house in order
to have peace; that the said skulls have been buried in Bradshaw chapel
yard, and even thrown into the adjacent river, but that they were compelled
to bring them back; for that whenever they were sent away, there was no rest
in the house on account of frightfrd noises ; as soon however as the skulls
return, quiet is restored. The owner of the skull that is cut, doubtless met
with an untimely end ; but whether in battle or by wilful murder no one now
can pretend to say.
There used to exist in Turton an edifice called Egerton Hall, but it has
been pulled down, and the remains of it converted into a modern cottage.
Curious tales are told in the neighbourhood about its being infested by some
unearthly being — an old lady dressed in silk, who passes generally under
the appellation of Old Madam. On the Egerton estate, Mr. Novelli, of
Manchester, built a large cotton-mill, and a handsome house in the French
style of architecture, named Egerton Hall. It is now the property and seat
of Edmund Ashworth, Esq. The works here are considered very superior.
The watermill is one of the largest in the county. The masters deserve high
commendation for encouraging schools and rational pursuits among their work-
people. The scenery in this direction, comprehending Belmont, where the
edges are which supply Bolton with excellent water, and the before-mentioned
reservoir, a lake a mile long, comprehending also the valley of Hulton and
the Turton Heights, together with the intervening lowlands, can scarcely be
exceeded for picturesque effect by any scenery of a similar kind.
In pulling down an old church chapel in Turton, about five years ago, the
workmen came to a sort of grave, about half a yard square, surrounded with
upright flags and covered with a large stone. Within were a few bones that
had been subject to the action of fire. This probably was the grave of some
old British chief.
We had an agreeable ride in the morning on our return to Bolton, from
Turton tower. It was market-day for cattle in Bolton, and through our
* Ruby's Traditions of Lancashire.
N N
274 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
ignorance of the town we found we had to take our breakfast in company
with a number of dealers in * live stock.' Hunger, after a cold ride, pressed
too much to allow us to be over particular, and so we were compelled to make
up for any deficiency in companions by doing justice to the fare, which, in
sooth, was not despicable. The quantity too at first seemed abundant; but
when drover after drover came in, and, to use the Lancashire phrase, * fell
to,' the disappearances were far swifter than the supplies. The men were
as eager and as devouring as one of their own bulls fresh from the mountains.
The prospect at one time was alarming; however, by patience, and importunity
with ' mine host,' we contrived to make a breakfast.
These cattle dealers are a hardy, free-spirited, and to some extent, fine-
hearted set of men. Some of them possess considerable substance; and here
and there one affects airs of something like gentility. This, however, is a
hazardous attempt, for the weight of ridicule which any such aspirant has at
first to bear would crush ordinary shoulders. Their mode of life, in riding
up and down the country buying and selling cattle, exposed to all kinds of
weather, mingling incessantly with various sorts of men, always chaffering,
bargaining, and sharpening their wits by assault or defence in the warfare
of words, has a tendency to create a ' free and easy' kind of character, w^ith
high animal spirits and robust health. And then for their patois^ it is motley
indeed, made up of all the local peculiarities of the rural districts and town-
market phraseology, in the midst of which they have been bom and bred.
Scarcely more than one-half that passed between these men at the breakfast
table could a friend of ours comprehend.
From Bolton we proceeded to Smithills Hall, at present the seat of Peter
Ainsworth, Esq., M.P. for Bolton. It is rendered celebrated by having
secreted George Marsh, commonly termed The Martyr. Curiosity led us to
survey the print said to have been made in a stone floor, at the bottom of the
staircase, by the stamp of his foot. We saw an impression certainly, but if
produced as is asserted, the worthy man must have had a foot of no common
length. Some of Marsh's descendants still live in Turton. The hall has an
interesting, not to say elegant appearance.
Our way lay through Doffcocker, where we saw a neat new stone church.
In a short time we were at Lostock. The tower lies about a mile from the
turnpike road. The only entire portion that remains is the gateway shewn
in the engraving. It consists of brick and stone, with bold stone mouldings
and string courses. The windows are very large, having stone mullions.
Over the upper window is a deep panel bearing a coat of arms. The front
bears the date 1591. Over the door on an iron plate are the letters SFA with
the date 1702 — obviously modem. Its present occupant is a farmer, who has
partly bmlt up the entrance arch on each side of it. Parts of it are covered
with ivy. No architectural chimneys are now to be seen, but there are relics
and marks which shew where they once were. The style in which the front
• 1
I
LANCASHIKK.
is ornamented is of a vicious kind, tihewing double columns riaing in
to the top; first of the
Roman, then Doric, then _ -"-" -\
Ionic, and lastly Corinthian ■ - ", ,
order. ' . . - _ . - ~
Thia Tower, lying four ' ' ' "
miles to the west of Bolton,
is seen both from the turn-
pike road leading from
Bolton to Horwich, and
from the Bolton and Preston
tilway. On onr first visit
this place^ a farmer of
the neighbour^od observ-
ing our curiosity, shewed
us what he believed was
a moat that formerly went
round thetower. Thebuild-
ing has sheets of water in - . . -
its neighbourhood which add to its cfiect, and is in a low situation in the
immediate vicinity of Bcdmoss. This moss giies rise on the east side to the
river Crole, which runs through Bolton and falls into the Lever and Irwell,
and on the west side to the Douglas, which runs by Wigan into the Mersey,
The credulous old man just mentioned, was a descendant of a &mily named
Heaton, who had owned the neighbouring township of that name, which he
affirmed was lost to his family by the knavery of the then owner of Lostock
Tower. This person had advanced a considerable sum of money upon the
estate and manor of Heaton, which was to he repaid within a specified time,
or the estate was to be forfeited. The day came. It was lat« in the evening
before the Heatons were able to collect the money to redeem their property;
and what was worse, the Lostock family had retired to bed, and could not be
roused that night. Next day the money was refused, and the forfeiture
claimed. Our informant was standing by a brook which runs across the road
within view of the tower, when he related this tradition; and we well remember
the awful iace he put on as he added, that aiter that night the very horses
which belonged to the tower always snorted and refused to pass that stream,
nor was there any alternative but to lead them into the road another way!
Passing from Lostock we went through West Houghton, and near Hindley
found, on luce Green, the object of our visit, Ince Hall. 'X"his edifice was
built by Roger Browne, in the reign of James I. In 1726 it passed by will
to Edward Holt, Gent., and is now the joint property of General Clegg, and
Thomas Case, Esq., of Liverpool, in right of their marriage with the two
daughters and co-heiresses of Edward Holt, Esq., of Holt, in Shivington.
276 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
The building with its gables and squares, seen from the road in front, down
the long avenue, affords an interesting specimen of the old Lancashire Halls.
Outward things, however, fleet more rapidly than the creations of the fancy.
Ince Hall is even yet environed and pervaded by thin and scarcely tangible
mists of superstition. The memory of the Protector Cromwell, and of the
Pretender, still haunt the place. Marks on the floor— one just the shape of a
head with long hair behind — the ineffaceable stamp and memorial of some
bloody deed ! Other signs there are, which tell of bullets having been shot
within the edifice. But we hasten to try whether we can fix one of these
floating traditions. It came to us from the lips of a firm believer.
" It is a longer period in the past than we care to define, that the
owner of the property, Nicholas Browne, lay in the agonies of death. LildB
other superstitious people he had delayed the making of his w ill^J est it shoula
precipitate his decease. His lawyer was sent for, but the dyin^aan's &culties
were nearly exhausted. AVhat could be done ? The attorney's clerk declared
he knew an expedient that would restore Master Nicholas, at least so as to
enable him to affix his signature to the document. * What is it V exclaimed
Humphrey, the son. * The hand,' he replied ; * it has wrought more
fearful things than this.' *Can it be got?' ^I will haste and try.' The
clerk soon returned; brought a dead man's hand. The will was signed.
The son, who had welcomed this resource, lest by lack of a will he should
lose a choice portion of his father's property, seemed now perfectly satisfied.
The old man was interred. The family assembled to hear the words and
wishes of their deceased relative, when Miss Kitty hurried into the room
with a parchment in her hand, declaring — ^ Here is my father's will; I know
it, for he read the whole to me.' * Is it signed V calmly asked the attorney.
" No ! he delayed the signature — I know not why; I often pressed him on the
point, but could not prevail ; but this is my father's will.' * His wiU is what
he has signed ; and I have the honour to hold it in my hands ;' sneeringly
answered the solicitor. * I will read it.'"
The entire estate was bequeathed, with every needful formality, to the
lawyer himself. The rage of Humphrey we will not attempt to paint. A
quarrel ensued ; arms were had recourse to ; the lawyer was wounded ; and
Humphrey, believing the blow mortal, fled in fear of the law, and never more
was seen. Bad men, however, die not so easily. Attorney Hilt recovered,
and took possession of the estate. What became of Kitty no one knew.
She had suddenly disappeared from a cottage hard by, where she had received
shelter, and was taking steps for the recovery of her rights.
Years fled on. Goodman Hilt was about to take a long journey from
home, and proceeded accordingly to give directions to his gardener. With
the utmost earnestness he forbad him to put spade or plough near or on a
certain spot which he singled out. No sooner had his master left, than
Nicholas, the gardener, took his spade and dug on the very spot, prompted
I
/
/
I
LANCASHIRE. 277
by a curiosity which the emphatic^ not to say solemn^ manner of his master
rendered irresistible. At the end of a long day's labour he turned up a human
skull ; coffin-boards also were disinterred. It was now known to what end poor
Kitty had come. What if legal evidence were wanting, the whole country
was sure she had had foul play. In fact the maiden herself seems to have been
of the same opinion ; for it is believed the journey Hilt took was solely with
a view of removing himself from a visitant, whose nightly appearances in the
Hall had become intolerable.
His return, however, at length became indispensible. It was midnight
when he reached Wigan. He ordered a conveyance to take him home — but
it was a tempestuous night; and neither by persuasion, money, nor hard words
(could he prevail on any one to drive him to the Hall. ^^ We have had enough
' of Kitty," they said. Maddened by opposition, and vexed at the prevalence
of these sinislBP reports, the weary lawyer set out on foot. He had entered
the avenue, which lay in a most neglected state, when of a sudden a flash of
lightning crossed his path, and he saw Miss Kitty before him, poised in the
air a few yards from the ground, in the dress she wore at the signing of the
will. He sunk overpowered. Next morning he was found in a ditch which
ran along the avenue, almost suffocated, and with few and faint tokens of life.
No sooner had he recovered than he quitted the Hall, which he consigned
to the care of a cottager and his wife. Their experience, and that of an only
child, confirmed the general belief. It was awful to witness the sights and
hear the sounds which passed in the mansion, especially during the long
dreary nights of winter. The lawyer spent the rest of his few days in
Standishgate, Wigan, without either pleasure or profit from his ill-gotten
^ booty. There is still a room in the Hall which bears the name of Miss Kitty's
* room. And an aged dame, returning home from a neighbouring town but a
short time ago, was so startled and alarmed at the appearance of the injured
• girl, that months passed before she recovered from the severe illness which the
vision occasioned.
From Ince Green we came to Haigh Hall, the seat of Earl Balcarres, who
is said to be his own surveyor and architect. Whether so or not, the
appearance of the estate is very creditable to the mind that presides over it.
The hall is a large white building, with long French windows and iron
balconies. Beneath the first-floor windows there are three large projecting
" bows in front, and a square projection at the side. The house stands on an
eminence, well sheltered at the back by flne trees. A piece of high ground
•* on the right, covered with fir and birch, adds very much to the appearance
and effect. In front of the house there is a broad terrace walk with a sloping
bank. The canal runs through the grounds, giving a lively appearance to
the scene by the numerous objects which it presents. The main road is
very picturesque, passing between tall rocks covered with trees and shrubs.
A very high bridge crosses a deep dell. In the bottom winds a stream
\
278 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTl'KY :
between banks and stones; now lost from sight, now reappearing; its course
arrested here by a large stone, there by the root of a tree. The bridge is
built of stone, with neat iron palisades on each side. The temptation was too
great to be resisted, and we stood a long time looking at the view which
spreads out from it. The white stems of the birch and the light yellow foliage
which was just coining out, were beautiful in contrast with the red stems and
rich green of the firs and oaks with which the banks are covered. Crossing
the bridge we foimd the scene quite changed. We suddenly entered a wood
ftJl of fine large trees, oak and birch, with coal-roads winding in every
direction, kept very clean and neat, but not formal. The timber here must
be of great value. The oaks especially are very large and straight. At the
distance of about a mile the canal is crossed by another bridge, this also of ^
stone, with no mean architectural claims, having fine balustrades, heavy coping
stones, and a well-turned arch. Passing over this bridge, we Iccpt the coach
road towards the hall; then turning suddenly to the right, again entered a
wood, whose walks and roads are regular and closely trimmed; some are very
wide, not of gravel, but a short, green, and very soft moss. The trees here
are not so large as the others, and some appeared to have been trimmed.
Excellent taste is everywhere displayed. Every thing is neat, without
being stifi*. The carriage-roads, although perfectly true as to width, lose all
appearance of formality by the serpentine direction in which they are led,
presenting at every turn a new picture.
The park is separated from Aspull Moor by a green lane wearing an
antique appearance. We crossed the moor again, passing several large coal
pits belonging to the Earl Balcarres, with tram-roads connecting one with
the other. Tlie country houses, stone bridges, the wagons^-evcry thing is
painted of a light blue colour, each bearing in large letters, EARL
BALCARRES, No. — .
" Can you" — ^we asked of a peasant — ^** can you tell which is the road to
Blackrod?"
" Nau" — ^he replied — ^^ but if ye speer um at yander coal peet happ'n
yeell knaw."
We put the needful questions, and received civil answers. On our way
over Aspull Moor, we passed a neat little place of worship called Haigh
chapel, built of stone. From the spot where it stands we had the gratification
of beholding a very fine view.
We soon arrived at Blackrod, where we found nothing remarkable except
a part of the Roman Causeway from Manchester northwards. The church-
yard is very high, the ground sinking abruptly down from it. Standing here
we had a very extensive prospect, which embraced Rivington Pike, Two-lads
Hill, Horwich. It is said that Langridge Fell can be hence seen. The print-
works of Messrs. Pope and of Messrs. Ridgway are beautifiilly situated;
the one in the valley, the other at Horwich. The church is a plain stone
LANCASHIRE. 279
building, with a square tower, which appears to be much older than the other
parts.
Rivington was our next point; — a name that is in every mouth in these
parts of the county on account of its Pike, which can be seen from so many
points, and presents so many beautiful views. We well remember when we
first ascended the well-wooded and verdant side of the hill, of which the Pike
is the summit. We had walked from Bolton on a fine calm summer's eve;
the air was clear and bright, the birds sang, the hedges smiled with flowers;
the trees were in the prime of their verdure; the views at every hundred
yards became more attractive; till turning on the right from the high road,
we began a gentle ascent up the mountain, and soon lost our way amid trees,
strolling on we knew not how and scarcely cared whither, so pleasingly
engaged were all our faculties ill the thoughts and feelings occasioned by the
scene and the hour. At length the shades of night began to fall thick around
us, and suggested the necessity of finding a sheltering roof. Smoke slowly
rising from amidst the wood, became our landmark. We made our way
thitherward, and in a few minutes were unintentionally greeted by merry
shouts of laughter from children at play. All now we felt was right. Where
happy children were, we could not meet with a repulse.
Soundly did we sleep that night. Next morning we literally " rose with
the lark;" and quitting the rustic pleasant abode where we had taken rest,
we set about ascending the Pike. Onward we went in right good earnest, the
rather because we had been told over night we could not walk thither and
back by breakfast time. Onward and upward we toiled — but the top seemed
more distant the longer we laboured. Our journey was made the more
difficult by the extreme moisture of the sides of the mountain. Indeed all
the hills in this vicinity are not seldom saturated almost to their summits with
water. Success at length crowned our efforts. Need we say how rich was our
reward in fine views, high spirits, and an appetite for which an epicure woiJd
give a kingdom?
On the present occasion, the season of the year was less favourable. The
church at Rivington is of a singular form and simple construction. A small
octagon tower of stone rises from its roof at the west end. The Presbyterian
chapel we thought very neat The graves are adorned with flowers or cypress
trees — a, decoration we always love to see, since a green living thing thus
planted at a grave, seems to form a fadeless bond of connexion between those
who are gone and those who survive; but in a rustic churchyard especially,
these lovely memorials are seemly and appropriate, harmonising as they do
with the general tone of things around, and being easily preserved from injury.
Mr. Anderton, an intelligent farmer who resides near this chapel, con-
ferred obligations on us by his free and courteous communications. He
shewed us a handsome oak cabinet, whose age he places early in the sixteenth
century, filled with geological specimens collected by himself in diflferent parts
S80 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
of the countj-. He has also a good collection of spars and carbonate of
barytes, oht^ned in the neighbouring mines of Anglezark. The greatest
curiosity, however, was an old stone, which was found in dicing the foun-
dations of the present building, used as a chapel by the Presbyterians. The
stone was unfortunately broken; but Mr. Anderton joined the parts care-
fiilly together, and placed them in a substantial oak &aine. Of the tmnister
whose name is cut on the stone, we read thus in the Nonconformist's Memo-
rial : — " Rivington, Mr. Samuel Newton, being turned out in 1662j he lived
at Crompton, and preached there as times would bear it. He afterwards
removed back again to Rivington, and read some of the prayers, and had
liberty to preach in the church without disturbance. He died in March
1682, not above forty years of age, but his abilities and graces were in their
full maturity."
On the summit of the Pike we found a square tower, embattled, with
labelled windows, a projecting cornice, and a bold moulding over the door.
In the reign of Elizabeth, when our country was threatened by an invasion,
the beacon on this Pike, standing at an elevation of 1545 feet above the level
of the sea, was kept for several months in continual readiness to rouse the
inhabitants in case of need. And when Buonaparte thought fit to threaten
us with a visit, the present edifice was built; but it never served for any more
serious purpose than to make a pleasing object in the surrounding scenery.
This place is a favourite resort in the season of summer, for parties of
pleasure, firom Bolton, Chorley, and other places. Many of these holiday
people seem to have been smitten with no common share of that English
mania which urges our fellow-countrymen to leave memorials of themselves,
LANCASHIRE. 281
wherever they condescend to set their foot in a part distant from their own
home; for the turf all round for twenty or thirty yards is intersected with
names or initials, some cut as much as four inches deep ; nor is a single bit of
wood in the beacon allowed to escape the infliction of the knife, carding as
deeply as possible, the sounds dear to the ear of a Smith, a Jones, or a Taylor !
The day on which our second ascent was made was beautifully clear;
objects accordingly appeared in the distance well defined, standing sharply
out from the atmosphere; and in the extreme points we descried Preston,
Morecombe Bay, and the Irish sea. The only thing which takes from the
effect of these landscapes, is the dark and dingy colour of the sheep.
We satisfied ourselves with taking a long look at Winter Hill, stretching
nearly from east to west. Properly enough is it named Winter Hill, on
account of its wild appearance and of its attracting so much cold and so many
heavy storms; but its ancient designation is Edgar Hill, so called from the
circumstance of a petty Saxon king, of the name of Edgar, having hunted
upon its sides. A part of the hill, however, we were tempted to mount, by the
sight of two prominent objects. The way was longer than we had expected, con-
finning the common remark of the country, that it is three miles from Horwich
to the top of this hill, and only two back. This part is termed Twa-lads-hill,
and stands on that side of Winter Hill which overlooks Horwich. Tradition
reports that the name is derived from the fate of two lads who perished there
in a snow-storm, and that the two heaps of stones on its top were erected to
commemorate the catastrophe. These erections resemble huge cylinders. A
gentleman assured us that he remembered them when they were of solid
masonry, and that he knew the inside stones had been taken out and removed.
We enjoyed an easy walk to Chorley, in Leyland hundred, which did
not become a separate parish till the year 1793. It takes its name from the
stream by which it is watered, being a compound of Chor and ley^ the field of
the Chor. A family of the same name held the manor of Chorley from a
very early period. The parish is in the archdeaconry of Chester, and the
deanery of Leyland. The church is destitute of side aisles, and wears the
appearance of being ancient. Its tower is a large building supported by
buttresses, which have Saxon characters over pointed arches in a diminutive
form. Its west door presents a fine antique arch, with fillets adorned with
fleurs-de-lis, blank shields, heads, and flowers. The interior is dark, from the
smallness of the windows. Within that portion of the chancel which belongs
to the Standish family of Duxbury, four bones are shewn, said to have
belonged to St. Lawrence, to whom the church is dedicated; brought from
Normandy by Sir Rowland Standish in 1442. At the eastern extremity of
the church there is a small cross. A stone of large dimensions, with the
appearance of a font, lies behind the church.*
•An unpublished manuscript of ihe deceased antiquary Barritt, preserved in that fine old library —
Chetham's in Manchester. The date of the passage we cite is 1791. "Called at Chorley; after
breakfast took a walk to the church, upon whose mouldering walls are the faint remains of several
o o
282 ENGLAND IN THE NlNETEfcNTH CENTURY!
Within less than a century, one short, narrow, and irregtQar street was the
entire to^ii. Of late, however, the place has increased, though not in the
same proportion as other manufacturing towns of the county.
The Grammar School is an ancient foundation. Its originators seem to
have had an unaccountable suspicion of the fair sex, as they provided "that no
schoolmaster should inhabit the building with his wife, neither minister with
his wife ; but that every such wife must be kept out of the same for divers
great causes — and especially that such wives, or their children begotten in
such habitation, might not become chargeable to the parish." Chorley is the
place which the Royalist forces under Lord Molyneux had reached in 1643,
when they were ordered by the king to repair to Oxford, to the disappoint-
ment of James Earl of Derby, who required this army to aid him in renewing
his assaidt on Manchester, which in consequence he was led to abandon.
The staple manufactures are cotton fabrics, muslins, jaconets, and fancy
articles. There are five coal mines in the neighbourhood, and Anglezark yields
lead. The heights, which lie near the town, afford views over rich and
extensive landscapes, and through beautiful mountain scenery.
From Chorley we come to Hoghton Tower, which lies at nearly an equal
distance of about five miles between Chorley and Blackburn. The hill on the
summit of which it is placed, rises abruptly from the immediate vicinity,
though a range of hills skirts along in a line on to Chorley, and on the south
you behold the lofty eminences of High Moor and Anglezark. The river
Darwen, taking its rise in the mosses of Accrington to the north east, passes
to the south of Blackburn, winds with a northerly sweep round Hoghton
Tower, and running through the beautiful Walton-le-Dale, falls into the Ribble.
It was a fine evening when we stood on the top of the hill, and the objects we
have just spoken of appeared to great advantage. We were in particular
gratified by a fine view of the estuary of the Ribble, with Preston near it,
shining in the subdued and mellowed light of the setting sun.
Hoghton Tower was erected by Sir Richard Hoghton, in the beginning of
shields; one charged with three bears* heads muzzled, another with three boars' heads, and a third with
three standing dishes — most probably arms of the founders of the church. The second coat I should
suppose was for Barton, a family once of note in this county; the last is evidently for Siandish, a
Baronet*s family in the neighbourhood. In the chancel are mural monuments and funeral trophies to
the memory of several of the Standish family, who have an elegant seat at Duxbury, and a branch of the
Standishes of Standish, near Wigan. Upon one of the trophy irons is a singular circumstance.
Instead of the olose-beavered helmet of the horse*mounted knight, is the scallad or sculUcap of the
leader of a band or company of pikemen or halberdiers. What might be the cause is now of no great
moment to determine, unless to form a topic of conversation for the antiquary and the herald. In a
small recess on the south side of the Communion table, once used for holy water, are three or four
large bones white with age, and secured from further injury by a door in the recess which was opened
by a boy to give us liberty of viewing them* They are represented to be human, but plainly appear
to belong to some large quadruped. My good friend Dr. Ferriar being along with me, without
hesitation pronounced one in particular to be the uppermost joint in one of the hind limbs of either
horse or cow species. Whether they were placed here out of siiperstitioni relique, or accident, we had
no information."
LANCASHIRE. 28-3
Elizabeth's reign. It remained for several generations the principal seat of
the Hoghton family, and after part of it had been blown up by accident, when
garrisoned for Charles the First, the injury was repaired. The family have
long since removed ; and this once splendid mansion, or rather a small part of
one wing, is inhabited by John Crook, a farmer. The building is decaying
rapidly, though it yet retains suflGicient strength; and so many of its apartments
are entire, that restoration is by no means impossible; and for ourself, we
cannot but wonder why it should be left untenanted. We have indeed heard
that its present owner. Sir Henry Bold Hoghton, has it in contemplation to
render it fit for being occupied, and a truly princely dwelling it might be
made; the exterior as well as the interior is laid out in a noble style, and when
the place was surrounded with trees and foliage, the long avenue which leads
up to the edifice must have had a fine effect. The approach is between two
handsome stone pillars, the road leading over a wide lawn, which brings you
to a ponderous gateway, consisting of a large middle tower, flanked by two of
smaller dimensions. This leads into a quadrangular court-yard, capable of
containing 600 men. You hence proceed through another gateway supported
by two stone pillars to a second quadrangle, and are conducted over a paved way
to the main body of the house, to which you have access under a fine pointed
arch, surmounted by a hatchment.
In the inner court-yard, stands a statue of king William in half-armour,
with a fine breastplate, the whole in good condition. It was sent hither
when Walton Hall was taken down, about some ten years since. The chief
entrance is up a flight of eight circular steps to the threshold, the dimensions
of which may be conceived when we say, that the lowest step is fifteen yards
from end to end. lliis middle pile branches out into long galleries, into
which the several chambers open. The domestic chapel on the north side,
used as a place of worship long aflier the family quitted the place, is now like
most of the building, rapidly falling to decay. Within, the desolation is
painful to behold. We cannot pretend to enumerate all the rooms through
which we wandered; decay and ruin met us at every step, especially in the
lower parts of the mansion, where the widest space and the greatest convenience
are combined with the utmost disorder and demolition. We had no difliculty
in assigning a cause for the stolid appearance of the farm boy-servants who
gave us their unsolicited attendance, and as little to account for the look of
painful interest w^hich their countenances assumed when we asked if the
building was tree firom ghosts. Strange indeed would it be were this the fact
in the opinion of these its ignorant tenants, for in the long nights of winter,
when the winds blow, and especially when the storm rages, all manner of
unearthly sounds may doubtless be heard in and through the numerous
shattered and solitary apartments, which make up the three wings of the
place.
We delayed our steps a considerable time in the spacious hall, with its
ENOH.Vn IN THE NI
bayed windows, minstrel gallery, old tables with carved legs, and fine old stove.
This apartment measures ten yards by seventeen. It is ceiled, and is paved
with small square stones. The staircases of solid oak are worthy of attention.
Room after room we found in the upper story wainscoted with paneled oak,
and requiring only ordinary care and some few reparations to be made
tenanlable. One room, in which the panels of the wainscot were very small,
had been adorned with a profusion of gilding. What may be termed the
Green Parlour contains five perishing portraits. The King's room, so called
doubtless because James' special apartment, has an oak floor, is lined with oak,
and presents some handsome carving over the mantelpiece — but has scarcely
the dimensions, certainly not the appearance which one is apt to consider
befitting roj-alty. One room, ten yards long and eight broad, attracted our
attention from its size and proportions. A few relics of furniture of no great
value shew themselves, as if to make the prevailing desolation more desolate.
The noble embattled tower forming the west front, with its two minor
square towers, serve as appendices to the north and south wing, and are united
by walls. On leaving the interior of the mansion, our attention was invited
to a draw-well, pierced through the solid rock to the depth of forty-two yards.
On proceeding to retire, we could not help taking another survey of the
surrounding country, for which the eminence on which the edifice stands
alfords so superior an opportunity. On one side, the eye takes in Lytham;
on another, Preston; on a third, it sees Pendle, and can descry the Cumber-
land hills. And then, these natural objects all are stroi^, young, and unde-
caycd, as when the founder of the tower laid the first stone. AVithout, all was
LAXCASHIRE. 285
stability and grandeur — ^within the building, we had seen nothing but ruin.
The contrast gave a tinge of melancholy to our feelings as we retired from
the place. On reaching the lower country, we cast an eye back up to the
tower, and were again impressed with the beauty of the scene. The deep
colour of the trees was rendered deeper by the shades of coming night; the
towers and battlements grew less distinct as we receded; still the vast ridge
of the mountain stood clear against the sky; till at last, having first become
the highest part in the surrounding scenery, it hid itself, and was lost from
our view.
Sir Sichard Hoghton was the first baronet of that name. He had received
the honour of knighthood at the hands of the Earl of Essex in Ireland, in the
year 1599. He bore the office of SheriflF of Lancashire in 1598, and sat in
several parliaments as representative for the county. He was distinguished
by being one among the eighteen knights and gentlemen on whom king
James the First conferred the hereditary degree of Baronet. He gave a
splendid entertainment to James the First, in his progress from the north, and
then, as on all other occasions, well sustained the character of an English
gentleman.*
The parish of Blackburn, lying adjacent to the parish of Whalley in the
hundred and deanery of that name, and the archdeaconry of Chester, consisting
of three valleys with intermediate eminences, covers an area of eighty-six
square miles, and forms itself into twenty-three townships. From Edward
the Confessor, this district passed to the Conqueror, who gianted it to Roger
de Poictou. From him it went to Roger de Busli and Albert Greslet. In
1160, we find the church and manor of Blackburn in the hands of Henry de
Blackburne, who divided his property between his two sons, Richard and
Adam; Adam's son assigned his moiety to John de Lacy. The other moiety
descended from Richard, to Adam de Blackburne, one of whose daughters,
Agnes, married David de Hulton, and the other, Beatrice, Wilton de Hulton.
John de Lacy, granted his share to the abbot and monks of Stanlaw, the
predecessor of Whalley Abbey; which property in the year 1537 came into
the possession of Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, who became rector of
Blackburn, and patron of the vicarage. The other half passed to the Bartons,
first of Holme, and then of SraithiUs, and at last came into the hands of
Joseph and John Fielden, Esqrs.
The original parish church was erected about the year 596, and was dedi-
*Sir Richard Hoghton seems to haire deserved the eulogy pronounced on him by the reverend
divine who preached his funeral £ermon — a publication which is now scarcely to be met with. "He was
free and hospitable in the entertainment of his friends, and most pleased with their kind and cheerful
visits. His comportment at home was like himself, ever bespeaking a generous and worthy mind, and
suitable to thai eminency of interest and repute, which upon just accounts he held in his county." —
See " The Believer's Groan for Heaven, in a Sermon at the Funeral of the Honourable Sir Richard
Hoghton, of Hoghton, Baronet; preached at Preston, in Amounderness, Lancashire, February 14lh
1677, by Seth Bushell, D.D."
286 EXOLAXD IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
ctited to St. Mary. This structure was succeeded by another in the reign of
Edward III.; and in the time of Henry VIII. the middle aisle and choir were
furnished with handsome roofs. In the year 1818 it was determined to
rebuild the church, and accordingly a stately edifice was erected, at a cost of
^6,000/. The small building on the left of the cast window was termed the
Dunkenhalgh Chapel. In 1614 this chapel was divided by an award, between
the Talbots of Salisbury and the Walmsleys of Dunkenhalgh as representatives
of the Eushtons — a branch of the ancient rectors and lords of Blackburn,
whose estates they had purchased; the north part being taken by Salisbury,
the south by Dunkenhalgh. A memorial of Sir John Talbot in the chapel
window ran thus:
a.D. 152K l^rapfor tl6epro0peroutf estate of Bt. lt;)on. Onbomaif <^rle of Z)erl>;,
Vinconnt Etnton, Horn ^trani^e, Horn of S^noclien.
In a niche which remained till the church was taken down, was a magnificent
monument erected to the memory of Sir Thomas Walmslcy, the judge. But
the recess was dismantled, the monument itself, which was an exact counter-
part of that of Anne Duchess of Somerset in Westminster Abbey, having
been demolished by the Parliamentary soldiers in 1642. The building on
the right of the east window is Osbaldiston Chapel, being the property and
place of sepulture of the ancient family of the Osbaldistons, over one of whom
a brass plate bore this inscription:
Here lyeih the Body of Sir Edvrard O&baldestoii, a Chariiable, Courteous,
and Valiant Knt. Qui obiil A.D. 1636, act. 63.
This fine old building was pulled down in 1821. The east window was sent
to Holme, the residence of the late Dr. Whitaker; it contained some coloured
glass ; and the churchwardens' seats in the present building are a ^portion of
the stalls of the old church. Some of the stones forming the piers were
found carved with grotesque figures, scroll work, etc., the remains of a
prior church of the Saxons. The tower yet remains, and has a curious
appearance, standing by itself near its modern successor. It was left, when
the rest of the church was demolished, in order, we learn, to serve as a place
for christening and other occasional services, which are numerous in the parish.
The present church, the first stone of which was laid by the historian of
Whalley, consists of a nave, chancel, north and south aisles, and a tower. The
fine groined roof and the elegant tower were injured by fire, occasioned in
the morning of the 16th January 1831, by the over-heating of a stove. The
present ceiling, regarded as an architectural composition, is much inferior to
the one which this fire destroyed.
In St. Peter's church there is a good full-length figure of St. Peter in
stained glass; and underneath it are the arms of Richard Card well, Esq.,
whose gift it was.
It is now about eighteen months since we first visited Blackburn. Weary
LANCASHIRE. 287
as we were with continued walking, and anxious to get into quarters, we
proceeded down the chief streets of the town with regret, as we became
conscious by what we saw that we had once more got into the dark and
troubled vortex of manufactures. In particular were we struck with the pale
and emaciated features of many of the poorer sort of people. No few of these
had, without a doubt, come hither out of the more northerly and rural parts
of the county, and seemed to us to have made a sorry exchange in bartering
away health, perhaps character, for higher wages and low animal gratifications.
It was Easter Monday in the evening when we set our foot in the town —
a high gala-day for the bulk of its inhabitants. We shall not attempt to
describe all the scenes we witnessed in its Bartholomew Fair in miniature.
The old custom of " Pace-egging" is still observed in Blackburn. It is an
Easter observance, and is said to be traceable up to the theology and philosophy
of the Egyptians, Persians, Gauls, Greeks, and Romans; among all of whom
an egg was an emblem of the universe, the production of the Supreme Divinity.
The Christians adopted the egg as an emblem of the Resurrection, since it
contains the elements of a future life. " The learned Hyde," says Brand,
" in his Oriental Sports, tells us of one with eggs among the Christians of
Mesopotamia on Easter-day, and forty days afterwards, during which time
their children buy themselves as many eggs as they can, and stain them with
a red colour, in memory of the blood of Christ. Some tinge them with green
and yellow. Stained eggs are sold all the while in the market. The sport
consists in striking their eggs one against another, and the egg that first
breaks is won by the owner of the egg that struck it. Immediately another
egg is pitted against the winning egg, and so they go on till the last remaining
egg wins all the others." The immediate occasion of the observance may
have been in the resumption, on the part of our forefathers, of eggs as a food
at Easter on the termination of Lent; hence the origin of the term pace^ or
pasque (that is, Easter) egg. In a curious roll of the expenses of the household
of Edward I., communicated to the Society of Antiquaries, is the following
item in the accounts for Easter Sunday : " For four hundred and a half of
eggs, eighteenpence." The following prayer, found in the Ritual of Pope
Paul v., composed for the use of England, Ireland, and Scotland, illustrates
the meaning of the custom: "Bless, O Lord, we beseech thee, this thy
creation of eggs, that it may become a wholesome sustenance to thy faithful
servants, eating it in thankfulness to Thee, on account of the resurrection of
our Lord." In Blackburn at the present day, pace-egging commences on the
Monday, and finishes on the Thursday* before the Easter week. Young men,
in groups varying in number from three to twenty, dressed in various fantastic
* Good Friday is termed " Crackling Friday,** on which day it is a custom for children to go with
a small basket to different houses to beg small wheaten cakes, which are something like the Jews'
Passover bread, but made shorter by having butter or lard mixed with the flour.
<* Take with thee ten loaves and cracknels." — 1 Kings xiv. 3.
288 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
garbs, an.l wearing masks — some of the groups accompanied by a player or
two on the violin — go from house to house, singing, dancing, and capering.
At most places they are liberally treated with wine, punch, or ale, dealt out
to them by the host or hostess. The young men strive to disguise their walk
and voice; and the persons whom they visit use their efforts on the other
hand to discover who they are ; in which mutual endeavour many and ludicrous
mistakes are made. Here you will see Macbeth and a fox-hunter arm-in-arm;
Richard III. and a black footman in familiar converse; a quack doctor and a
bishop smoking their pipes and quaffing their " half-and-half;" a general and
an oyster-seller; an admiral and an Irish umbrella-mender; in short, every
variety of character, some exceedingly well-dressed, and the characters well
sustained. A few years ago parties of this description were much subject to
annoyance from a gang of reckless fellows styled the " Carr-laners " (so called
because residents in Carr-lane), armed with bludgeons, who endeavoured
to despoil the pacc-eggers. Numerous fights, with the usual concomitants of
broken heads and various other contusions, were amongst the results. This
lawless gang of ruffians is now broken up, and the serious affrays between
different gangs of pace-eggers have become of comparative rare occurrence.
An accident, however, which ended fatally, occurred in the last year. Two
parties had come into collision, and during the affray one of the young men
had his skull fractured, and death ensued. Besides parties of the sort we
have attempted to describe, children, both males and females, with little
baskets in their hands, dressed in aU the tinsel, coloured paper, ribbons, and
" doll rags" which they can command, go up and down from house to house ;
at some receiving pence, at others eggs, at others gingerbread, some of which
is called hot gingerbread, having a mixture of ginger, and some of cayenne,
causing the most ridiculous contortions of feature in the unfortunate being
who partakes of it. Houses are literally besieged by these juvenile troops
from morn till night. " God's sake a pace egg ! " is the continual cry. There
is no particular tune, but various versions of pace-egging and other songs are
sung. The eggs obtained by the juveniles are very frequently boiled and
dyed in logwood and other dyes on the Easter Sunday, and rolled in the
fields one Qgg at another till broken. This practice of pace-egging used also
to be practised in some parts of Yorkshire. Great quantities of mulled ale
are drunk in this district on Easter Sunday. The actors do not take the eggs
with them, they are given at the places where they call. The actors are mostly
males; but in the course of your peregrinations on one of these evenings it is
not unusual to discover one or two of the fair sex in male habiliments, and
supporting the character admirably. This old custom of pace-egging was again
observed this year, notwithstanding the fatal accident we have mentioned, with-
out any molestation from the authorities, and without any accident occurring.
Another Easter custom is termed "playing the old ball." It is thus: —
A huge and rude representation of a horse's head is made ; the eyes are formed
LANCASHIRE. 289
of the bottoms of old broken wine or other " black bottles ;" the lower and
higher jaws have large nails put in them to serve as teeth; the lower jaw is
made to move by a contrivance fixed at its back end, to be operated upon by
the man who plays the ball; there is a stick on which the head rests, which is
handled and used by the operator to move the " old ball" about, and as a rest.
Fixed to the whole is a sheet of rough sacking-cloth, under which the operator
puts himself, and at the end of which is a tail. The operator then gets into
his position, so as to make the whole as like a horse as possible. He opens the
mouth by means of the contrivance before spoken of. Through the opening
he can see the crowd, and then runs at first one and then another, neighing
like a horse, kicking, rising on his hind legs, performing* all descriptions of
gambols, and running after the crowd; the consequence is, the women scream,
the children are frightened, and all is one scene of the most ridiculous and
boisterous mirth. This was played by sundry " old balls" some five years
ago at the pace-egging time, but it has gradually fallen into disuse. This year
our informant has not heard it even mentioned. The idea of this rude game may
have been taken from the ** hobby-horse" in the ancient Christmas mummings.
The only scientific institution at present existing in Blackburn is a society
which combines the two not very kindred pursuits of geology and phrenology.
A singular club is held among a select few, denominated "The Fran-
ciscan, or Grey Friars," who meet every fortnight, and discuss the qualities
and merits of ancient and modem poetry. ** The Abbey," as it is termed, is
governed by an abbot. Certain forms are observed in the initiation of
novitiates; and all the members wear at their meetings the characteristic
dress of the old order whence they take their name.
In riding into the town on occasion of a second visit, we were led to
inquire under whose auspices a large space of ground, well ftimished with
various gymnastic appliances, had been so admirably fitted up. This wc
found was the Brookhouse Gymnasium, established by Messrs. Hornby and
Kenworthy, eminent millowners, for the recreation of their workmen, opened
on the 21st August 1841, on which occasion the operatives did themselves
the credit to entertain their respected and benevolent employers at a public
dinner. Efiforts so wise and generous, and acknowledgments so befitting,
are highly commendable; and glad are we to know that a feeling is spreading
among the opulent manufacturers and others, in favour of making suitable
provision to enable those who are engaged in mills and factories to take those
manly exercises, and enjoy those pleasing recreations, which are required by
a regard as much to their health as to their morals. As might be inferred
from the preceding passage, the mills of these gentlemen are well conducted.
A school has been erected, which cost them 1000/., for the special benefit of
the children of their workpeople. We hope the Mechanics' Institution and
Baths, mentioned in Mr. Cardwell's address as being in contemplation, have
by this time come into existence. If these benevolent efiforts owe the chief
p r
290 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
part of their success to one partner, Mr, Hornby; not less distinguished for
mechanical skill, as well as for that energy and excellence of character which
have raised him from a very humble station, is the other partner, Mr, Ken-
worthy. This gentleman is the inventor of a machine of great merit, which
b now rapidly coming into use, designed for the sizing and dressing flai and
cotton-yarn. The machine stands in about the same space as the old dressing
frame, takes less power, does fives times the work, and is calculated for coarse
or fine throstle or mide yarns, besides preparing goods which weave better,
and make the cloth of a silky texture.
Blackburn is rendered famous also by being the birthplace of James
Hargrave, who invented the jenny (see page 43). The merit of this invention
places Hargrave among the foremost benefactors of mankind.
The father of the present Sir Robert Peel was bom in the house, an
engraving of which is here appended. It is situated in Fish Lane, Black-
burn.* The low buildings to the left are now slaughter-houses; and the
projection standing out in &ont at the extreme right, is not more than twenty
or thirty years old. At the time of the elder Sir Robert's birth, the house
itself, and the position in which it stands, were superior to what they are
Ths Maiemenl of the preKnl Sir Robert Peel wai, Ibat hi* blher wtt barn nt the bmilj nUIe
culled Pecl-CrOB, near Blackburn; and that he dUd in May lB3a in the 74th year of hi> age.
Thii Biatemenl vaa made ill replj lo ioquiriea propoaed to bim b; Mr. Cortir, vs preaume lb*
hiilorian of Lancaihire,
There appean to be tame miiiake in tliii alatenwnt. B; reference lo Bainea (Hiil. Lan. vol. ii.
p. 67,) it vili be seen iliai ihe pment Sir Robert doea not apeak in ■ loiie of eonlidenee ; and ve
are inclined lo iliiiik, miKt hare been either miiinfbrnied or mi>- reported. " The only record of mjr
father," layi Sir Hubert, " ii to be found in the memoiy of bia aurTJTing friends:''— and ibe gTidence
of ■urviiors al lliii moment is, that the fiither <tu born in Fish Lane, Blackburn. Of iha Iruih of
ifaii iiatcnitnE wr have been assured by Ihree highly reipectBbU profeauonal gcnllemen oF the place;
and ill confirmation of their aaurtion we may mention a few fHCla with vhich the; haie rurniilied ui.
There is no such place at "Pcel-Oou." mentioned as having been tbe birthplace of the father of
th« present Sir Koliert Peel, in or near Blackburn. Tlicre is a place called PM-Fcld. Tbe
numoij of theohlcitinhDbiUniiar the town, as ir..|l a) tradition, fii the ftther'a birih in Fish Lane.
We give a fev inauncei. Mrs. Sudell died in 1823, aged St j she assured Jamea Bailey, E<q . our
informant, that Ibe biher was born in Fitli Lane. Similar was tlie auuranee given lo Mr. Bailey by
LANCASHIRE. 291
now. The family were small but substantial farmers. Their credit is the
greater for having raised themselves from a humble origin. The merit was
due to the late baronet, who was eminently distinguished for those qualities
by which money is commonly made, and large fortunes accumulated, aided
by favourable circumstances. He was one, and we incline to think a very
favourable specimen, of a class of men who, availing themselves in Lancashire
of the discoveries of other heads or of their own, and profiting by the pecu-
liar local facilities for making and printing cotton goods, as well as the wants
and demand which, half a century and more ago, manifested themselves for
the articles manufactured, succeeded in realizing great opulence without
possessing either refinement of manners, culture of intellect, or more than
common-place knowledge. They were industrious, frugal, generally sober,
honest in the payment of every legal claim; — ^and thus they prospered.
Salmesbury, l3dng between Blackburn and Preston, attracted our notice
in consequence of its noble hall.
The township embraces a rich space of country lying between the Ribble
on the north, and the Darwen on the south. It is chiefly the property of
Mr. Braddyl, of Connishead Priory. The ancient hall, built by Sir Thomas
Southworth, in 15S2, was, when Baines wrote his History, a beer-shop. A
license has since been obtained, alterations and additions have been made,
and it is now a highly respectable and comfortable inn, and is much fre-
quented in the summer time by parties of pleasure from Blackburn and
Preston. Till the formation of the new road between these two towns it was
Mrs. Halliwell, who died aged more than 90, being three years older than the late Sir Robert
himself. To the same effect is the statement at the present moment of James Long, aged 88; also
of Henry Hoghurst, aged 80 ; and of John Aspden, aged 84. Miss Taylor, a maiden lady in her
84th or 85th year, who has lived in Blackburn for above 60 years, says that the Jirst Sir Robert Peel
was born In Fish Lane — his two elder brothers were born at the Hole House Farm, in the township
of Blackburn ; and she thinks, ** but is not positive," that the £rst Sir Robert Peel's father never
lived at the Peel- Fold farm, in Oswaldtwistle, but when he married went to live at the Hole- House for
about 30 years; and Mr. Lawrence Peel, uncle to the present Sir Robert, died at Peel- Fold. For-
merly Peel- Fold estate was let in two farms, but latterly in one ; and Mr. Lawrence Peel died in one
house, which had been used as a fann*bouse. Sir Robert Peel began to print first at Moorgate-Fold
in Livesoy, noar Blackburn, but afterwards went to Church -Bank. After some time the family
began to spin cotton, and when the mob which attacked Wrosley-Fold between 50 and 60 years ago
bad demolished the machinery (vide Baines) in the first-named factory, they went and destroyed the
spinning mules at Church-Bank. Mrs. Taylor saw the mob, which stopped in the market-place to
obtain refreshment at the public-house which lately was occupied by Mr. Burrell, and Mr. Hebden,
the butcher.
When the first Sir Robert Peel lived in Fish Lane with his brothers and parents, which was then a
very respectable farm-house, it was customary for respectable yeomen to use pewter plates at dinner.
Sir Robert, or his brother, sketched a figure or pattern of some kind or other upon one of their plates;
and a thought struck him he would try whether an impression would be made on calico with colour.
At one end of the farm building a young woman of the name of Elizabeth Mitton kept a calendering
machine, and he went into her house, and put the plate with colour in the figured part and some
calico, through the machine, when it left an impression; such we believe is the origin of roller printing
on calico. This information is derived from the daughter of the said Elixabeth Mitton, a Mrs. White,
of Burnley.
292 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
moated round. It encloses three sides of a quadrangle. The centre build-
ing contains the great hall ; a spacious room constructed of massy wood
work, and is of very high antiquity. The historian of Lancashire states that
" the principal timbers are carved with great elegance, and the compartments
of the roof painted with figuies of saints, while the outsides of the building
are adorned with profile heads of wood in bold relief, with huge medallions,
l^ie inner doors are without a panel or lock, and have always been opened
like those of cottages, with a latch and string. In 1814 the roof and indeed
the greater part of the mansion were in sound repair, though inhabited
by vaiious tenants, farmers and weavers. The staircase leading to the mag-
nificent hall, the roof of which was arched, was narrow and mean ; and a
door of plain dark oak boards, opened by a string latch, gave admittance into
the hall. In the hall is this inscription, 'Thomas Southworth, Baronete,*
on a finely carved wainscot. On the south side there are two massive chim-
neys, and vestiges of a domestic chapel."*
Whitaker gives Salmesbury as a specimen of the most ancient mansions
constructed of wood. The peculiar marks by which they are distinguished
are these: the structure was at first exclusively of wood, the principals con-
sisting of deep flat beams of massy oak, naturally carvedj they spring from
the ground, and form a bold Gothic arch overhead ; the spars rest upon a wall-
plate, and that again is sustained by horizontal spars grooved into the princi-
pals. The wood employed in the construction of Salmesbury Hall, " must
have laid a forest prostrate."
We have gone into these details because we believed our readers, and
* See page 2^i in wliieL an cDgraviag of ibe other froDt of Ibis bill irai inteHed bj an orcrugbt,
in place or Salabury.
LANCASHIRE. 293
especially those who visit the place, would like to know what the mansion
was. Great changes have, we regret to add, taken place in the mansion.
To say nothing of coach-house, stables, etc. added, the visitor will no longer
find " the figures of saints," spoken of above ; as they have, alas ! been hidden
by whitewash — an excellent thing doubtless in its way, but often sadly mis-
applied, especially in our old country churches. The inner doors, too, have
now the ordinary locks and fastenings. The whole building is in the occupa-
tion of Mr. Henry Baines, the landlord.
Salmesbury is famous for being connected with the trial of eight persons
in 1612 charged with witchcraft; on which occasion it appeared that Sir John
Southworth was wont to say of his relation Jane Southworth, that " she was
a cruel woman, and a witch, and he. Sir John, in going between his own
house and Preston, did for the most part forbear to pass the house where
Jane, the said witch, did dwell, doubting that she would bewitch him."
From Salmesbury, passing through Preston to the westward, we entered
what is called the Fylde country or district, including the western part of
Kirkham parish, and the whole of the parishes of Lytham, Bispham, Poulton,
and St. Michaels, with a portion of Garstang, comprehending more than one-
third of the hundred of Amoundemess, limited on the north, west, and south
by the sea, the river Wyre flowing nearly due north through the centre,
having at its entrance the new port of Fleetwood. The turnpike-road towards
Kirkham runs parallel with the Ribble, and near Clifton divides, one branch
keeping along the shore of the estuary and passing by Freckleton to Lytham,
the other running in a north-westerly direction to Kirkham, eight miles from
Preston. Clifton is a village, consisting of a few cottages standing on both
sides of the road, and having at one end Clifton Hall, a building erected
by the owner of the manor, Mr. Clifton, in the style of the mansions of Queen
Elizabeth's reign, the ancient hall having long ceased to exist. The manor
belonged to the Cliftx)ns as far back as the reign of Henry III. ; and Salwich
Hall, in another part of the same township, now belongs to this family.
Towards the river the land is level, and has a cold chilly aspect; marshes
border the shore where the river begins to expand and shew its fine breadth
of stream ; and they continue to Freckleton, supposed to be an old Roman
station; a straggling place, where the cottagers find employment in the manu-
facture of coarse hempen fabrics. It is joined by Warton westward, where
there is a church with a whitewashed tower, erected a centxiry and a half ago ;
and a passage across the Ribble sands at low tide, having a guide, as at the
Morecombe and Leven sands, specially appointed for conducting travellers,
without whom it cannot be safely attempted. Beyond Wai'ton, upon the Ribble
estuary, is Lytham, a great resort of the inhabitants of Preston and the interior
towns of the county for sea-bathing, to which conveyances are numerous from
Preston; and it is within the reach of a summer day's excursion by water
from that town, agreeable enough when the river is smooth. This is a thriving
294 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY!
place, of very considerable antiquity, built in the style of most watering
places of the smaller class, consisting of a street running parallel with the shore
along the Ribble, which is here nearly seven miles in breadth. Lytham
contains several good inns, also warm and cold baths, lodging-houses, billiard-
rooms, public walks, and all the accommodations which custom has devoted
to convenience in similar places. The country round is level and dreary,
but the air is generally mild. The shore is a flat sand, like that on the
coast of Lancashire in general; but Lytham is favoured with a haven in
what is called " the pool," a natural harbour about a mile eastward of the
place, capable of receiving vessels of burthen; and here, or higher up the
river at Freckleton, they discharge their cargoes into barges and lighters,
which can alone proceed to Preston, the river navigation not admitting ships.
The church is of modern date ; that of an ancient priory, which once existed
here, being pidled down in 1770, when another was built; and this last being
too small, was demolished in turn, and a new church begun in 1834. The
prior of Lytham anciently had the plunder of wrecks near this place, which it
appears he claimed from the time of Richard L, but out of which he was
ousted by the Crown in the 24th Edward III. This unhallowed gain seems
to have been valuable from being thus contested. Unhappy indeed were the
owners whose property was, in these barbarous times, stranded upon the
coasts of their own country, such a misfortune being made a sanction for
further deprivations.
Kirkham may be reached from Preston both by the turnpike and railroad.
It lies north-east of Lytham, the railroad passing a little to the northward of
the town, on the east of which a brook flows southwards, and falls into the
nibble near Freckleton upon the eastern side of the Naze-point, which last
faces Penwortham on the south-east upon the opposite bank of the river. It
would seem from antiquities found in the neighbourhood that Kirkham was
a Roman position, a Roman shield of brass having been discovered in a field
close by, decorated with figures in relief; coins, fragments of pottery, and
stones cut for building, found near, add strong proof to this presumption.
The Lancaster and Preston Canal passes about three miles to the eastward of
the town. The parish is large, covering 180 square miles of surface. The town
contains about 400 houses, and possessing a church dedicated to St. Michael,
with a market and fair, formed as early as the reign of Henry III. Elizabeth
confirmed the ancient grants, and the right of a corporation ; but it does not
appear that the sherifiT ever exerted his discretionary power of summoning the
borough to return members. The church is partly new and partly old, and is
a heavy building, although from the north side of the town it has a good
appearance. Here, to the numerous catalogue of parochial sins on record, is
to be added that of an untruth in the temple of Truth itself, an inscription
over the chancel declaring that the church was " entirely rebuilt" in 1822.
This bold assertion can deceive nobody who looks at it for a moment, and
LANCASHIRE. 295
therefore by some modem polemics it would, from that very circumstance
perhaps, be adjudged no falsehood at all. The greater part of the building
is of very ancient date; nor have the repairs of the fabric much concealed
evidence of the fact. In this church lies the Rev. Cuthbert Harrison, an
ejected minister, who was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Clegg. The two
clergymen did not live on very friendly terms, and when Mr. Harrison
died the vicar placed some scurrilous lines over his grave,* which have now
disappeared. The parish comprises seven townships, and a population of
12,000 persons. The living is worth 1600/. a-year from the small tithes, to
which sum they have increased from 260/. in 1814. Christchurch Oxford
receives 3500/. a-year from the large tithes of the parish. Eight of the town-
ships are destitute of any place of religious worship, and in one direction there
is none for the space of twelve mUes.f The parish register begins in 1539,
and contains some curious entries. It appears that a sort of town-council
of *' thirty '* once existed here, and transacted the parish business. Among
the entries in 1576 is an order for " the clerke to keep a songe book free to
the parish." In 1580, ** out of the 30 men who signed an order this year, all
made their marks except James Baine, 30 man for Kirkham." In 1592 the
churchwardens went round the parish " to write the names of the householders
and their families above sixteen years of age. N.B. James Baine went with
them to write the names." There ai-e charges for sermons to Mr. Colerige,
Ss. 4d.; to a stranger, 12d.; and to Mr. Wilson for a sermon, 2s. In 1604
the churchwardens went through the parish to warn the people to come to
church. In 1623 there is a charge of 12rf. for going to Preston to find out
where wine was to be got cheap: the charge for the year's consumption is
2/. 14^. 8rf., at 7rf. a quart; and twenty-four gallons were consumed. In 1619
there is a complaint that a child was fathered upon the parish, and kept long
at the parish charge. The charities here are numerous and munificent. Sail-
cloth, cordage, and coarse linens are manufactured in the town, but not to any
great extent.
Poulton-le-Fylde, so called to distinguish it from the other places of the
same name in the county, lies north of Kirkham about eight miles, which we
reached through a very uninteresting road, over a level but not unfertile
country, bearing the aspect of all the Fylde land, that of having been recovered
from marshy ground. Poulton stands between the river Wyre on the east
and the sea on the west, at the commencement of a peninsula, which is all
within the parish, and at the northern extremity of which is the port of Fleet-
• They were these : — Here lies Cud,
Who never did good.
But always was in strife ;
O let the knave
Lie in his grave,
And ne*er return to life.
f Baines's Lancashire, vol. iv. p 3S5.
296 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
wood; the railway, called the Preston and Wyre Kailway, passing near it, ter-
minates at Fleetwood. The length of Poulton parish is thirteen miles, and
the breadth three. The Wyre river forms a fine lake-like cstuaryj on the
eastern side, parallel with the Wyre, an embankment has been made, and
upon its summit the railroad is conducted. The harbour has twelve feet of
water at all times. A good deal of land has been reclaimed &om the sea,
lighthouses erected, and one of the best hotels in England built for the accom-
modation of passcngera to Scotland and Ireland by the steam-vessels, or of
tourists to the north across Morecombe Bay, over which to Ulverston steamers
ply. As a bathing-place it possesses very superior attractions. Hot water
baths, lodging-houses, inns, and habitations of all kinds have sprung up as if
by magic on one of the most agreeable sites it is possible to conceive, very far
superior to any other in Lancashire; admitting, as from a central point within
a day's ride from London, excursions by land and water in all directions
amongst some of the most beautiful scenery in the empire, cither in England,
Scotland, or the north of Ireland. In order that some idea may be formed
of this rising place, we have given an engraving of the buUdings completed,
and those in progress, or about to be begun. These spirited undertakings
are upon the estate of one whose iamily has been connected with Lancashire
for a long interval of time, the present Sir Hesketh Fleetwood, Bart.; and
they combine, in a very happy position, advantages that cannot fail to be
appreciated when they are fully known. The tourist may reach Lancaster in
one day's railroad travelling from London; but he must consume another in
reaching Ulverston by coach from that place, if he desire to be in the heart
LANCASHIRE. 297
of the romantic district of Furness ; for this mode of proceeding is far preferable
to crossing the sands, at least during nine months in the year; the last passage,
too, about twenty-one miles, occupies a second day, and time may be an object.
At Fleetwood there are excellent inns, one the finest in England, with accom-
modations of all kinds; from thence a couple of hours' steaming takes the tourist
across Morecombe Bay to the Furness capital, and into the heart of a district
of surpassing interest. Charming indeed is Fleetwood itself in the height of
summer, with its cool sands, northern aspect, and delightful prospects. First
there is a noble bay in front, an ocean of itself w^hen the tide is in; and when
it is out, offering firm sands of vast extent for riding or walking. On the
opposite side is the Isle of Walney, the Pile of Foiddrey, the promontory of
Lower Furness to the west, and of Cartmel to the east, divided by the estuary
of the Leven ; and beyond these, mountains rising over mountains until they
fade into the purple of the summer hour, or lose their majestic crests in clouds
that roll in vapoury convolutions along their ridges, wholly burying firom view
their majestic grandeur. The first which approach nearest the bay on the
west are those of Black Comb, Coniston Fells, with the Old Man; and more
to the right are those which rise near the head of Windermere ; a whole forest
of mountain summits, disrupted, distant, and lofty. On the north-east, across
the mouth of the Wyre, the coast forms a bay, at the bottom of which
lies Cockerham, the estuary of the Lune is more northward, the land on
the shore of Heysham foreshortened and prominent, and more northwards
still the deep bight of the bay, formed by the estuary of the Kent over
Lancaster sands. We trust Sir Hesketh Fleetwood's sagacity in endea-
vouring to attract public attention to this rising town may meet success. On
the score of convenience it claims to be generally known to all who from
pleasure or business may avail themselves of its advantages.
To return to Poulton, a small place on a slight elevation, with a square
of old-looking houses in the centre, through which the road lies to Black-
pool. There are several lateral streets; the church, dedicated to St. Chad,
stands in the middle of the town, rebuilt in 1767, but retaining the ancient
tower, which is not older than the time of Charles I. It consists of a
chancel and nave only, with galleries. The living is in the gift of the
Fleetwoods. In the vicinity of this place some of the customs of the olden
time are still observed. Very recently May-day was ushered in with a dance
round the May-pole, and the lavish exhibition of garlands and merriment.
AU-Souls-day, it appears, is still kept at Great Marton by what is called
in some places "soul-caking," or here "psalm-caking;" only that in place of
collecting cakes from house to house, they now crave money as more agreeable
to the ruling spirit of the time than the simple product of housewifery. On
the Monday before Good Friday the youth congregate in strange dresses, and
visit their friends' houses, playing antics, on which occasion they are styled
" the jolly lads."
298 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
About four miles south-west of Poulton-le-Fylde we reached Blackpool,
the principal watering-place in the county according to some local authorities.
Passing down a short street that ran nearly east and west, the end of which
opened upon the sea, consisting of that ever, and yet never-varying style of
buildings which springs up in such localities, we reached the comer house,
which forms the left angle of this street and an esplanade facing the sea of
considerable extent. Here visible tokens of character came at once upon
the view. A long space of road, having the sea upon the right hand,
passed down from north to south, and at a short depth under a bank or
elevation, consisting of dark peaty earth, crumbling down in masses upon the
sand, there lay a very fine firm level beach, from which a shallow sea had
retired more than a quarter of a mile; two or three gaily painted boats
high and dry upon the hard sand; beyond the beach an extensive ocean
line, the horizon northwards or southwards unrelieved by a single headland,
and the road above the sand protracted to the extreme point of view, which
might be about a mUe or a mile and a half, and lined on the eastern side with
houses, nearest to which, within the carriage-road, were rails and garden-seats
thinly scattered and scantily occupied by sUent sitters, who seemed to gaze
upon the sea for want of occupation, or out of pure vacancy of thought — such
was our first introduction to the Brighton of Lancashire. We had been told
that the hills of North Wales at fifty miles distance to the south-west, and the
vales of Cumberland and Westmoreland forty miles to the north, were to be
seen, but we could observe nothing beyond the line where the
*' sea's broad glory melts into the pole."
We looked in vain for the Isle of Man, but found afterwards that it was
only seen in the time of clear weather from a small eminence behind the town.
On the land side the country is level, treeless, and destitute of all interest.
The great merit of Blackpool consists in its perfect exposure, without the
slightest drawback, to the delicious western breezes, which are so mildly
bracing, so invigorating without rudeness. Then the firm sandy beach affords
an excellent space of great extent either for riding or walking, the sand
being remarkably firm; but it must be acknowledged that the scene is very
monotonous. The fresh water is said to be much purer than it is generally
found near the sea. Hot baths, libraries, newsrooms, and the various time-
killing appendages of watering-places in general, are met with as a matter of
course. The house at the angle of the street before spoken of, is an hotel and
boarding-house, and bears the name of "Lane-end Hotel," a very extensive
establishment, counting ten windows on a floor upon the sea front, three
stories high, with eight upon the north side front.* It is traditionally
reported that there was once an inn, half a mile out from the present shore.
Indeed, the crumbling material of which the land consists can ofifer no resist-
• The price of a good sitting-room facing the sea, of a bed-room and dinner, we found to be
3/. Id5. 6(1 per week ; dining at the public table 3/. 6s, 6d. ; with a small sitting-room Si,
LANCASHIRE. 299
ance to the waves, which, in the sand they raise and keep up against it out
of their own depths, forms the sole barrier to extensive devastation during
tempests. Blackpool stands on the estate of Sir Hesketh Fleetwood, Bart.
East of Blackpool are the townships of Great and Little Marton, where a
subterraneous forest exists, by digging out the oaks from which many poor
people make a living. Some of the trees are firm enough to make agricul-
tural instruments, bam roofs, fences, and ornamental furniture.
We proceeded to Garstang by the parish of St. Michael-le-Wyre, the
Wyre river passing through its centre. At Garstang, traces of the Romans
have been discovered. The Duke of Hamilton is lord of the manor here.
The church is an old structure, much repaired in modern times : the chancel,
from an old inscription within, was built in 1522. In the town is a chapel of
ease, erected in 1666 originally, and reconstructed in 1769. The church of
the parish once belonged to the Abbey of Cockersand; and a charter was
granted in the fourth Edward II. to the abbot for a market and fair. Garstang
is a small, poor place, and said to be decreasing. The Wyre passes near
the town; and on its banks are situated the ruins, now few and unimportant,
of Greenhalgh Castle, which the Earl of Derby garrisoned for Charles I.
in 1643 ; but it was subsequently dismantled by the Parliament. This castle
consisted originally of a square, with towers at the angles. Continuing our
course northward, we entered the hundred of Lonsdale, divided into North
and South Lonsdale, the bay of Morecombe forming the line of separation.
The southern part of South Lonsdale consists of the parishes of Cockerham,
Heysham, and Lancaster. The first is small, and borders upon Morecombe
Bay, a part of the northern end forming the southern shore of the Lune river,
upon which is situated Glasson, with its dock, watered by the little river
Cocker, which falls into the Lune. The church was originally founded by
William de Lancaster, and has been recently rebuilt; the churchyard contains
several very ancient tombs. There are two chapels of ease in this parish; one
at Ellel, and another at Shirehead. Heysham occupies a peninsula on the
bay of Morecombe westward of Lancaster, having a larger extent of sand
belonging to it than of dry land, since only about seven hundred acres are
cultivated. It possesses a considerable herring fishery. There is a very
ancient ruined chapel upon a rock here, supposed to be of Saxon foundation,
twenty-four feet long by seven wide. In the floor are cut nine excavations in
the form of coffins for adult persons, and two for children, in which the
grooves for the covers still remain. The village of Heysham is inhabited by
fishermen and farmers ; but the church stands on the shore in Lower Heysham,
erected in the Norman style, and of very old date.
Lancaster, on the opposite side of the Lune, must now engage the reader's
attention for a brief space — a parish of great extent, and very irregular in its
boundaries, whilst its superficies are calculated to cover 68,084 acres. It is
watered by the Lune and tributary streams, having Halton and Claughton on
300 ENOLANI) IN THE NINETEKSTH CENTURY:
the north, and Melling on tlie east. ITie Lune is properly a Westmore-
land river in its origin, and enters Lancashire by Kirkby Lonsdale, flowing
through a vale of great beauty, hence the name of Luncsdale, corrupted into
Lonsdale ; but we anticipate — we entered Lancaster from the south, and passing
down one street, and turning a sharp corner into another, found ourselves in
a square of no great size, on one side of which is the town-hall, here delineated ;
the principal inns in the
town, all of them small, look-
ing upon the same square.
The hall is commodious, and
contains portraits of distin-
guished public characters,
among which is that of Nel-
son, painted by an artist
who was a native of the
town. The custom-house is
a. small tasteful ediflce, hav-
ing a neat Ionic portico.
The dwellings and streets
are in general regular and
well-looking, from their ma-
terial being freestone; and
some of the houses in streets
not occupied by traders are
handsome and of good pro-
portions; but the streets
themselves have a deserted
and sombre appearance after quitting the manufacturing towns of the county,
not a little deepened by their northern aspect, on an ascent which, until the
higher part is attained, affords no idea of the commanding ground upon which
a good deal of the town stands, nor of the pleasing character of the vicinity,
though accompanied with somewhat of nakedness from the want of trees which
everywhere prevails. In fact, Lancaster, as a picturesque object seen from
the river either above or below the town, possesses a character of almost
romantic attraction; the medley which has been made of the exterior of the
castle by modern adaptations, to the most unpicturesque of purposes, is not
perceived — " distance lends enchantment to the view;" the church seems to
unite w4th the castle, and the entire combination is one of rare occurrence in
scenery of the highest character. Fromthe bridge up the river the hill seems
crowned with a noble castellated palace, having at one extremity a circular
keep, and at the other the tower of the church, while the intermediate space
is filled up by inferior towers, buttresses, and battlements, in that irregular
mode which is so gratifying to the eye of taste. But if the view in this
LANCASHIRE. 301
direction is more palatial, as the reader may judge from the representation
which the engraver has so well delineated jfrom the pencil of Mr. Creswick,
there are several other, points of view where it is equally eflfcctive, while
the grandeur of character is preserved, and the eye takes in a more extensive
foreground, distant hills come in and contrast their grey summits with the
crested elevation in the nearer but not the front ground, all being reflected
darkly from summit to base in the waters beneath. In one place the broken
arch of the old bridge adds much to the eifect, tottering over the waters it
had once proudly spanned. On walking to the castle, and on attaining the
summit of the hill, which is best done by entering the churchyard up a flight
of broad steps, or after passing the castle-gate here exhibited, the illusion
formed by the distant view is effectually destroyed ; not but that the ascent
well repays the visit, but not by the scenery immediately at hand — a vast and
varied landscape, embracing a great variety of objects agreeably disposed,
comes upon the view. The gate of the castle is imposing it must be granted,
consisting of two massy towers, square in form, and of lofty proportion. We
begin to think of noble halls within, of guards upon the walls, of knights,
esquires, and all the baronial pomp of ages gone, and not the less as connected
with the name of the position — " royal Lancaster." On raising the eyes a few
paces after passing the gate, the illusion vanishes : no battlemented walls greet
the sight — externally the curtains connecting the towers, or what should be
towers, are only battlemented with the turnabout iron cheveux defrisey designed
to prevent the escape of those who are charged with the crime of poverty —
very unharmonious coadjutors to dreams of "antique pageantry;" so that the
Castle of Lancaster, with its semi-modernised keep peering above the walls of
its enclosure, is from one point of view on the outside neither castle nor gaol;
for even the idea of the latter appearance is obliterated in a great measure
by the assize courts and their accompaniments, having windows down almost
to the ground, breaking that continuity of the external wall from the portal
entrance which alone can keep up the idea of a place of defence or security,
alike connected with a castle or a gaol — a violation of what may be termed the
** architectural fitness of things," that might easily have been avoided.
The law courts are extremely commodious, and every thing has been done
to secure the objects to which the building is now applied. The interior of the
public apartments dedicated to judicial purposes, are fitted up in the eccle-
siastical style of the reign of Henry VIL In one of the towers, an apartment
is specially dedicated to the secure keeping of the archives of the county;
this tower is called John of Gaunt's Oven, and is eighty-eight feet high. The
additions of late years to this building have cost 140,000/.
The interior court of the castle, in its adaptation to its present purpose,
exhibits its ancient character in much better taste, and is a very fine display
of architecture in perfect keeping with the original building — unfortunately its
present use is here but too palpable to afford a momentary illusion; but
3(Ji8 BNOr.AND IN TUB NINETEENTH OKNTI'HY:
notwithstanding this, it is grand and imposing, of which the reader may
judge from the following engraving —
The church, built in the 16th century, stands on the north of the castle,
and occupies a considerable space of ground, consisting of two aisles and a
nave. The tower is handsome and lofty; and the view from its summit
commands a noble extent of land and water, level and hill. The aisles are
divided from the body of the church by eight arches of the old Anglo-Gothic
tower, hut as a whole this edifice does not present any novelty either of an
architectural or antique character. One epitaph alone has been copied and
re-copied out of the few memorials within, recording the talents and excel-
lences of an ancient mayor of the town, named Covell, whose virtues seem
to have consisted in tenacity of place, having been six times mayor, in times
when mayorships were somewhat like sinecures, forty-eight years keeper of
the castle, and forty-six coroner ; he died, for even placemen must die, in
1639, and the Lancastrians placed over his remains the following hyperbohcal
inscription : —
H«'
■. fled. ...
[» ae-d-disu
>l«Hl,
■>ot di'Mroyed
loll
eiven hi
s toul doth r«i
It, lib
bod; here
Sk-e
I dusl, and hi!
iramt
? e»ery where
Triu
<n.ph. ;
ilic town, the
CO till 1
ry, further fori
Tlie
ta»d 11..
■uugliout procl
laimi
lib noble wort
Spe.
tk of a IL
,»n so courleo
us.
The lower part of the town, called Skerton, is continued parallel with
the Lune, nearly as far as a bridge of five arches, by which that river is
crossed on the road northwards. It cost 12,000/., and was erected by a
LANCASHIRE. 303
Mr. Harrison, of whose architectural talents it exhibits a very favourable
specimen, the length is 549 feet. It succeeded the old bridge, which was in
another place lower down the river, to a remnant of which we hav^ already
alluded. A theatre, assembly rooms, several almshouses, and an excellent
grammar-school, are among the other public buildings of the town. There
are also schools of several descriptions supported by charity, and in one, the
children are clothed. Lancaster has a considerable trade; the river being
navigable for vessels of between 200 and 300 tons. The port of Lancaster
is at Glasson, between four and five miles from the town, where there is
a dock which will hold twenty-five sail, and a good deal of ship-building.
Hardware and woollen manufactures constitute the principal exports, 600
vessels have in some years entered the port.
Below the bridge over the Lune, and in sight firom its parapet, but
further up the stream, is the aqueduct which carries the Lancaster canal over
the river towards Kendal, erected in 1797, at an expense of 48,000/. Not
two miles above this bridge, the vale of the Lune may be said to assume its
character of beauty — a character by no means unmerited. Two roads from
Lancaster run parallel with the river some distance; that on the southern
side leading by Melling through Hornby to Kirkby Lonsdale on the south
bank, the other meeting it at the same point, passing through Kirkby and
by Old Hutton to Kendal ; while a third road running nearly due north,
leads to Kendal, through Bolton. Leaving this road to the right hand, near
Camforth, another diverges through Warton and Yealand, to Milnthorpe, by
Heversham, across the Kent river to Lonsdale, where it again enters
Lancashire, which county it had left a mile or two before reaching Miln-
thorpe, passing through Westmoreland ; this is the mail road to Ulverston-in-
Fumess.
A portion of the parish of Lancaster to the south-east of the town, stretch-
ing towards Bowland Forest in Yorkshire, is hilly waste, though some parts
give tolerable pasturage, to which Black Fell and Dale-side, Tongue Moor,
and similar places may be said to belong. The reader will remember that we
are now speaking only of the south side of the Lune. The chapelry of
Caton, and the parishes of Claughton, Melling, Tatham, and Tunstall, occupy
the entire space north of that of Lancaster, as far as the borders of Yorkshire.
Claughton village stands upon a range of rocky hills, which overlook the
valley of the Lune, including the romantic castle of Hornby and the beautiful
scenery along both sides of the river. The scenery which most attracts the
attention of tourists, begins a mile or two on the road from Lancaster to
Hornby, just before reaching the little chapelry of Caton, where are several
small cotton manufactories, for coal occurs in the township, as well as slate, of
tolerable quality, particularly in that portion of it called Littledale.
The Cragg, a seat in this parish belonging to Mr. Parkinson, was once the
property of Lord Monteagle, who fought at Flodden Field, and was given by
304 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
him to his standard-bearer. Beyond Caton a Roman milestone was found,
marked IIIII. Caton Green lies in the valley, of which so much has been
spoken in praise, that we confess we were not so surprised at its attractions as
we might otherwise have been. We pursued the road through Caton in our
way to Hornby. As a vale view it is attractive and beautiful, having most
of the objects which constitute parts of such views exceedingly well placed.
The best spot for the spectator is out of the road on the north, three or four
miles from Lancaster. A valley into which the hills descend, somewhat like
headlands into the ocean, covered with rich green turf and wide enough to
develope level meadow breadths on each side of tlie Lune, first on one shore
and then upon the other, sweeps along irregularly, and in that the river winds
its own snakelike course from side to side, of a bright sapphire colour; here
washing the point of a promontory, and there losing itself in the shade of the
woods, that shadow darkly its translucent bosom by a course parallel with
eminences clothed nearly to their summits with trees, varied with other {
heights, that stand out bare, and contrast well with those that are entirely
wood covered. A cottage or villa happily disposed, the nearer eminences
rounded and velveted with rich pasturage, the whole ground opening up in
extended perspective until the Yorkshire hills bar up the view, meeting
the sky and forming an admirable distance with Ingleborough, twenty-three
hundred feet high, having a flat summit and an irregular horizon line beneath,
just as far removed as to harmonise well with the middle part of the scene,
leaves nothing to be desired in a landscape that pleases rather than surprises,
and of which the prevailing character is more beauty than grandeur. This
seems to us the most that can be said of a prospect that carries fewer
defects than are commonly observed in such views ; we see nothing mis-
placed, and desire neither to add to nor take away a solitary object. Gray,
the poet, directed the attention of others to this valley. He first speaks
of the scene opening three miles from Lancaster, and continues : *' Here
Ingleborough, behind a variety of lesser mountains, makes the background of
the prospect ; on each hand up the middle distance rise two sloping hills, the
left clothed with thick woods, the right with variegated rock and herbage ;
between them in the richest of valleys the Lune serpentises for many a mile,
and comes forth simple and clear through a well wooded and richly pastured
foreground."
A more beautiful walk than that from Lancaster to Hornby, a distance
of nine miles, cannot be taken. After Caton Green is passed, about seven
miles from the county town, comes Claughton, already mentioned, a parish
and township intersected by the high road; the population being wholly
agricultural, and not exceeding a hundred and fifty. The church, originally
built in 1070, was re-edified in 1815. Just before reaching Hornby the
road forks ofiT on the right into Yorkshire, leading to Settle through Wray.
Hornby is in the parish of Mailing, which last contains, besides the townships
i,ANrASHiRE. 305
of Melling with Wrayton, Wennington, Wray with Botton, Roebumdalc, Ack-
holme with Cawood, and Farleton.
Hornby is nine miles from Lan-
caster, and had the grant of a market
as early as \2Q^ ; the population is
about four hundred; a small incon-
sequential place delightfully located.
The castle and scenery are eminently
beautiful and of remote antiquity ;
Roman pavements have been disco-
vered there, but a portion of the late
edifice was erected, it is supposed,
in 1102, by Roger de Mont Begon.
The ancient part as it appeared
nearly a century ago, having been
dismantled by the Parliament in
1643, is represented in the annexed
engraving*
There is now a modern residence;
for of the old castle, only the prin-
cipal tower remains, buUt by Lord
Monteaglc about 1520. It is situ-
ated on an eminence, rising wood-clothed from the shore of the Wenning,
a little stream which flows into the Lune a short distance to the north west,
spanned in one place by a neat bridge. The tower, thus remaining, is of pro-
■ It «u thui, p«rh*p>, when Gra; riiited it : h> uji, ■• it U now onl; a ihall, the rifteri are laid
within it a* fiir flooring. I went up a winding itone itaircue, in one corner to the leads, and at the
angle i* a atooe (ingle hexagon watch-tower, riung leteo feet higher, 6tled up in the uiie of a modera
■uininer-houie, with uib window* in gill framet, a itucco cupola, and on llie tup a rich gilt eagle ;
built h; Mr. Chaneris, llie prewnl proprietor.'' We were not luckj enough to be admilted.
RR
806 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
digious strength^ and on one side ifi the motto of Sir Edward Stanley^ '^Glay et
Gant E. Stanley." The house is a plain edifice^ rises in front of the ancient
keep^ and by no means appears so incongruous as might have been expected ;
but it has a fine effect, derived from a position so peculiarly happy. But
how shall we do justice to the scenery; — upon ascending the high ground
near, and still further on at Melling, where the prospects are truly noble;
where nature appears to have grouped in one place and brought into the
picture in another all she can contribute to rural grace, to the pleasing, the
extended, the beautiful, and the magnificent. We look along the vale of
the Lune, filled with every object that can be combined to enrich a surface
which presents never-failing novelty, and charms by the very order of
nature's disorder — deep groves, flashing waters, the richest pasturage, farms,
villas, cottages, in one direction — dark ploughed fields speckling the emerald
turf, in which the colours of the well-shaped cattle seem as highly polished
as in one of Polemberg's figures; in another, brown heathy summits, making
the azure above look yet more intense ; the Yorkshire hills still in view, and
foremost of them Ingleborough in all its majesty, looming darkly against t^e
serene of the heavens, and here and there distant mountain summits, that the
eye with difficulty separates from a few light clouds gauzing the cerulean sky.
Like the Vale of Tempe must have been, all is mild tranquil beauty, with which
peace is inseparably connected, and where the lion seems to lie down with
the lamb. Hill fades over hill into invisibility, and from imseen farms or
concealed trees, smoke here and there wreaths along the ground or hangs
vapoury over vale and wood, while silence unbroken, except by the distant
low of the kine, or the caw of a solitary rook as he rises from among his
brethren, as if to inform them that the step of a stranger approaches their
haunt — all were sharers in the scene — a scene Claude might have found his i
pencil fail to imitate, amid the varied objects, so well in keeping and yet so mul-
tiplied, gracing this enchanting landscape. The vale of the Lune may now be
visited from London in a day, thanks to railroads ; and if the stranger go not
as far as Fumess or Westmoreland, he may still say he has entered the portal
of the northern scenery of England, and found that alone has repaid his visit,
especially if he prefer the tranquil in nature to the severe and grand — to pore
over the bubbling brook, rather than listen to the thunders of the cataract.
Melling is divided by the Lune, and in the north-western part rises into
limestone ridges, and receding from the Lune the surface ascends into lofty
eminences; it has two coal mines, one at Farleton. Tatham parish to the
west contains nothing worthy of mention, except Robert Hall, an ancient
residence of the Gerard family, on the borders of Yorkshire, now in possession
of Mr. William Gerard, brother to Sir John, of Bryn Hall. Yorkshire is here
separated from Lancashire by high rock-covered heights, arrayed in fantastic
forms, and commanding views of great extent and interest. Tunstall, to the *
north of Tatham, calls for no observation any more than Whittington, which '
d
LANCASHIRE. 307
adjoins^ it; the same lofty ridges covered with rock, distinguish the heights
here as they recede from the level lands along the Lune. The township
of Dalton adjoining, in the Westmoreland parish of Burton in Kendal,
has precisely the same superficial character.
"We now turn to the north-western bank of the Lune, where the road to
Eirkby Lonsdale passes through Halton, soon after crossing the river at Lan-
caster. From the centre of the hiU, one of the finest views of the town and
castle arrests the traveller's attention; but a curve in the river prevents a
glance any distance up the stream, along the banks of which the lands are
fertile, but decline in fertility as they recede from the river, which receives
a tributary stream from this parish, called Church Beck. Some Roman
antiquities, and no less than eight hundred coins of King Canute, were found
in the parish during the enclosure of a moor. In the churchyard is a Saxon
cross sustaining a s\m-dial with the date of 1635, and near by, without the
churchyard, a moimd supposed to have been once that of a castle. Here too
is Halton Hall, once the property of the family of Carey, forfeited by
rebellion in 1715. After belonging to the Bradshaws of Freesal, it was sold
to Mr. Swainson of Frenchwood. It is a lovely spot, and there are in its
possession manorial rights of a peculiar character.
The church was erected in 1792, but the old tower still remains attached
to it. The churchyard contains a singular epitaph upon an attorney named
Fletcher —
He wai — but words are wantiDg to say what —
Think what a man should be, though an attorney; he was that.
Bolton-le-Sands, so called to distinguish it from Great Bolton, is limited
north westward by the shore of Morecombe Bay, which is dry at low water.
The road to Milnthorpe from Lancaster passes through this parish and the
adjoining one of Warton, and the sands of Morecombe Bay are crossed to
TJlverston from Hest Bank in " Slyne with Hest" township. Besides Slyne
with Hest there are only two townships, Nether and Over Kellet, in the
parish. In that of Nether Kellet there is a cavern, called Donald Mill Hole,
in the limestone rock, through which a brook runs for two miles and a half,
re-appearing under an arch of the same kind of stone. The cavern may be
traversed some distance, but the month of October in which we were there
was cold, and a few paces within the entrance it was so sharply felt, having
been previously wetted by a heavy shower, that we did not venture on the
exploration, but were informed it had been traced by the stream for some
hundred yards from the entrance. It is approached by a gorge encumbered
with masses of rock.
From Warton parish, or through it, the principal freshwater streams
descend, which discharge themselves into Morecombe Bay, and, in fact,
prevent the sea from quite choking up that extensive level. All the world has
heard of the danger of crossing the sands to TJlverston, although by daylight
308 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
at the proper time of the tide there is very little hazard. The Ken or Kent,
and Keir or Kecr, are the principal rivers; the last is esteemed more
dangerous than the first to ford, as it is liable to become quicksand. Three
men were once lost in it, with their horses, at the same moment. In the
beginning of the last century, a man and horse were found almost perfect who
had been thus engulphed in the sand, which had become hard around them ;
by a change in the stream they were again exposed to day, very little altered
in appearance. In making Hest Bank, across the sands from Ulverston, the
line to be followed is at a considerable distance from the shore where any
streams meet the sands, it being less hazardous to cross further out, where
the streams spread and become shallow. A schoolmaster resident in Warton,
named Lucas, wrote a minute history of this parish; and he speaks of the
Bride's Chair, a seat upon a crag near the shore, where the village brides
seated themselves on the day of marriage; and mentions all the rarities of
nature and art that this remote spot exhibits. The church of the parish was
built in the sixteenth century, with narrow windows, and is still a substantial
edifice. Here the festivity of rush-bearing, elsewhere described, was con-
tinued until very recently. It was always the custom of each feimily, according
to Dr. Whitaker, to keep a pall for their use, to be laid over the bier when
any corpse among them was taken into the last resting-place of the dead.
Feasts were made, and odoriferous flowers and shrubs, as bay and rosemary,
were flung into the grave; recalling poor Ophelia's flinging about flowers,
in Hamlet, evidently the old English custom. Cake and ale were formerly
presented to the company at the nearest inn after a funeral here, and this was
called Arval.* In this parish was educated Roger Dodsworth, the anti-
quary, whose labours Dugdale seems not very honestly to have appropriated,
and reaped that fame which was another's due. Borwick Hall is a fine
old place, once the seat of the ancient family of Bindloss, and subsequently
of the Townleys, Stricklands, and Standishes. And near Leighton Hall, copper
is said to have been raised in small quantities. There is a breed of sheep
much valued, met with in the pasturages of Warton.t
We quitted Lancaster at eight on a fine September morning, to enter the
district beyond the Sands. The coach passed along a pleasant road that
aflforded glimpses over the sea on the north west, in which direction we left
Hest Bank, at Slyne, where what is called the "over sands" coach, the time
of which is regulated by that for crossing Lancaster sands, and consequently
by the time of low water, first descends upon its amphibious route. The road
we travelled was sometimes level, more frequently undulating along gentle
elevations, and we soon got into Westmoreland; going through Milnthorpe
northwards until the river Kent was passed, then proceeding a short distance
due west, and afterwards south west, we entered Lancashire again at Lindal.
Thus the coach travels a distance of nearly thirty-six miles to reach Ulverston,
* See Whitaker, Hist. Rich. vol. ii. f Baiiies* 684, vol. iv.
LANCASHIRE. 309
wliich in a straight line from Lancaster is not more than sixteen. We were
now in the parish of Cartmel, which is separated from Furness by the Leven
river and its estuary, flowing out of the southern end of the lake of Winder-
mere, and then by the lake itself, nearly up to Storrs Hall, divided from
Westmoreland on the east nearly the whole distance by the little stream of
the Winster, which falls into the Kent very near Lindell or Lindal. This
last is a village having an ancient parochial chapel, situated in the township
of Upper Allithwaite. Cartmel parish contains the townships of Upper and
Lower Allithwaite, Upper and Lower Holker, Staveley, Cartmel Fell, and
Lower Broughton.
It would occupy much space to describe every beautiful object or distant
break of striking scenery which engaged our attention before we re-entered
Lancashire at this place, where the road makes an angle turning from south
east to south west through Allithwaite to Newby Bridge. Here roads branch
off to Cartmel and Lower Allithwaite. Lindal is near the estuary of the
Winster, the sands in which at length unite with those of the Kent, but are
separated for some distance by a Westmoreland promontory jutting south-
wards. The view from this village is extremely beautiful and very extensive.
The dwellings in the foreground are scattered among foliage, and it is
necessary to get clear of the place and ascend a little eminence close above it
on the north, to obtain one of the most charming prospects that can be
conceived. The ground at Lindal, broken and varied, goes off into a level
just beneath, on which there are a number of trees in scattered groups;
but over which the spectator extends his view to Castlehead (of which
more presently), conical in form, wooded, and the mansion peering above
the trees; the whole seems to stand on the verge of the sea, to which it
is contiguous if the tide be in. Beyond this a large expanse of Lancaster
sands or of water, as the tide may happen to be in or out, stretches along
southwards and eastwards to a great distance. Into this vast expanse headland
follows headland, jutting out far away; ridge comes after ridge, summit after
summit, until the more remote mingle in line with the ocean and sky. These
ridges are finely broken; and an island called Holm Island, about a third of
the way across from the Lancashire side, off Pepperland Head, appears just
where the spectator finds it will most add to the attraction of the landscape.
Few spots in the island are more calculated to command the admiration of
the tourist. The sun, when we saw it, threw a noontide glory over the
whole prospect; all was flashing and glittering in a flood of light; — ^by no
means the most favourable time of the day for enjoying the sight, as the
reflection from the water, which was just rippled by the lightest of breezes,
dazzled the eye and shewed the imperfection of the sense, or a necessity for
the contrast arising out of strong light and shadow to render deep and perfect
the impression derived from distant objects. The eastern coast of Morecombe
Bay stretched away far over the Kent to Lindreth, across the bay and the
310 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY I
Lancaster Sands^ between that place and Poulton, towards the month of the
Wyre; a far expanse^ varying in appearance as sand or water predominated.
Lindal is in Upper Allithwaite. The sugar-loaf, or conical rock, from the
coins found there, was evidently once a Roman station; and at the foot,
the celebrated ironmaster, Wilkinson, built a good house and took up his • |
residence, after improving the land almost from a state of nature, and render-
ing it a very delightful spot; in which undertaking many antiquities were » ^
found, and the remains of animals discovered not now known in this country.
After "Wilkinson's decease it came into possession of his son-in-law, Mr. Legh. J
Here Wilkinson was buried at his own desire, and a mausoleum erected .
over his grave, with an inscription left by him for the purpose.* His remains,
however, were not suffered to remain in the spot chosen by himself, for what
reason we did not hear, but they were actually removed as late as 1828, to
the yard of the old parochial chapel in Lindal. The house is uninhabited,
having been sold by Mr. Legh in 1880.
Lower Allithwaite is a township remarkable for containing one Well to
which medicinal virtues have been for a long time ascribed, and another
which is said to ebb and flow. Much company still resorts to the well just
mentioned, the water of which contains the sulphates of lime and magnesia,
with some muriate of soda. Wraysholme Tower in this parish, of which a
portion of the wall still remains, is said to have been a seat of the Harrington
family. In Lower Holker is Holker Hall, belonging to the Earl of Burlington,
once a seat of the towthers. The park is well wooded, and exhibits every
variety of ground, part being level and another part gendy swelling or
rising into rocky hills, the summits of which command extensive and noble
prospects. The house appears to have been built at different times, and not
upon a regidar plan; from which circumstance it gains in effect much more
perhaps than it loses in any other way. This house contains some good
pictures, principally portraits. In Upper Holker is Walton Hall, which
once belonged to William of Walton, prior of Cartmel, now also the property
of Lord Burlington. Staveley contains no object worthy of notice. Cartmel
Fell township, as the name implies, is hilly; affording the most enchanting
and romantic views over Windermere and the other lakes, as well as the
heads of loftier mountains to the north and north west. East Broughton
township adjoins Upper Allithwaite on the west.
Cartmel is the chief town in a district thus separated from Lancashire by
Westmoreland on the east, and by rivers and lakes from Furness on the west.
We found a humble town, but clean and neat, with buildings of stone that
appear to have had many recent additions. The number of inhabitants we had
* ** Deliyered from persecution of malice and envy, here rests John Wilkinson, ironmaster, in
certain hopes of a better state and heavenly mansion, as promulgated by Jesus Christ, in whose
gospel he was a firm believer. His life was spent in action for the benefit of man, and he trusts, in
some degree, for the glory of God."
mm*
/
^ »■
LANCASHIRE. 311
no means of ascertaining except with those of the parish, which last increased
ita population from 4007 in 1801, to 4802 in 1831. The town stands upon
ground surrounded by lofty hills of limestone, and is chiefly remarkable
for its fine old church, that once belonged to the priory, devastated by
Henry VIII. Thischurch ^_. . - .
is here represented, and ' "= . - -
is one of the most im-
posing of parochial edi-
fices of a like character
which we have ever seen.
The priory itself has dis-
appeared, except a few
fragments of walls and
part of an old gateway,
but more were extant
within human memory.
Cartmel Priory, for
the church alone now
perpetuates in name the
remembrance of the mo-
nastic institution, stands
on ground perfectly level,
and on the site of one which was older, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. When
the priory existed, it had the exclusive appointment of guides over the sands
and of ferrymen throughout the county, with various other important privi-
leges; and was founded by Mareschal Earl of Pembroke in 1188, having
canons of the Augustine order." The priory church happened to be parochial
also, and the inhabitants having satisfied the cupidity of Henry VIII. by a
sum of money, the more moderate in the way of purchase from thus pleading
a parochial use, it was spared from destruction, and yet remains, the admira-
tion of all lovers of ecclesiastical architecture belonging to the early days of its
more fiourishing condition. It is alofty edifice, consisting of a nave, side aisles,
and transepts, the last lit by windows one over the other. From the centre of
the transepts rises a square tower eighty-five feet high, and upon that one of less
dimensions, both little above the roof and novel in appearance, for the angles of
the smaller tower do not answer to those of the larger, but are set croaswaya
to them. The window at the east end is of great height, the tracery fine, and
the exterior boldly ornamented; though time has done much mischief to some
parts. The interior, truly grand, is defaced by an organ-loft put up in
defiance of all propriety, breaking the continuity which it was clearly the
object of the architect to render particularly eflective, and in other instances
much injured by the modem want of taste too frequently observed in similar
* Biiinea, Lcnc. toI, iv.
312 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY !
cases. The whole is a fine specimen of the era in which it was execute
the length 157 feet, the walls 67 high, and the transepts 110 feet long-. T
columns are bulky, short, evidently formed for endurance, and yet x
inconsistent with grace. Some of the arches are round, others pointed ; tl
pillars are of two kinds, one octagonal. These arches are admirably skctche
the workmanship bold, and the roof full of elegant fretwork. The gre
window exhibits finely pointed arches, and has some painted glass mnt
mutilated. There is an old oak screen carved with numerous scripture subject
in a style of considerable merit, and there are twenty-six stalls omamente
with grotesque figures. The choir is remarkably fine. The date of erectid
is generally supposed to be of the time of Henry II., with alterations in th
reign of Edward III. At one time, in the reign of James I., this church wa
so neglected that some of the buildings belonging to the old priory attachoc
to it were pulled down and cai-ried away, such as the refectory and chapter-
house. It was subsequently repaired at private cost. Some renovations
have been recently executed, and a fine tomb of the Harrington family has
been laid open. There are a number of memorials, and among them one said
to be that of William de Walter the former prior, and one of Sir John
Harrington of the time of Edward I. There is a library, containing about
three hundred volumes^ attached to this church, a donation from Mr. Preston
of Holker.
Lower Allithwaite, adjacent to Cartmel, lies upon the road which crosses
Cartmel peninsula, from the Leven sands to the Guide's house, or as locally
denominated the " Carter 's-house," at Kent Bank^ where the traveller enters
upon the sands which conduct him to Hest Bank, and a little more southward
stretches out into the sands a cape, called Humphrey Head. On the same
road is Flookborough, once a market town, more to the west than Allithwaite,
now a village, in which some of the visitors to the wells in the neighbourhood
take up their abode. The prospect over the sands of the Leven from the eleva-
tions of ground in this vicinity are very extensive, and the distances broken by
mountains. Much of the land on the shore consists of marshes, both south and
westward, portions of which, by feeble attempts at diflTerent times to reclaim
them, have been inundated again after being deemed secure. In Upper
Holker is Bigland Hall, a seat of the Bigland family, charmingly situated upon
an eminence commanding the most enchanting prospects over sea and land,
having a small lake in front of the house, but at some distance below the
eminence, a little under the brow of which it stands. This is an old county
family, the representative of which seated here is Mr. George Bigland.
There are many beautiful spots in the vicinage of Cartmel, suiting such as
are fond of retirement, and fine scenes and romantic prospects mingled with
the irregular and wild, enjoyed from a fertile soiL Numerous mansions, for
the most part of resident individuals, lie around the hills, so that it was difficult
for us to persuade ourselves that we were in the bustling busy county of
k
LANCASHIRE. 313
Lancaster, and etill out of Furness, where we knew manufactories with tower-
like chimneyB intrude not upon the eye, which finds only the beautiful,
or romantic. Still there are one or two cotton manufactories in the district,
and iron forges, though the northern features of Cartmel differ from
Fumess in name alone. From Staveley, of which parish the father of Dr.
Law late bishop of Carlisle was curate, nearly to Storrs Hall, where the
county of Lancaster terminates, beginning at Newby Bridge, eastward to
the Winster river, nothing but bare or wood-covered hills are seen, the finest
of which are near the shore of Windennere, The hill over Fell Foot may be
said to begin the range rising abruptly from the beautiful lake by the road to
Kendal, go we went from Cartmel J» Newby Bridge, and from thence proceeded
on foot to the passage over Windermere; having rarely seen a district in
which nature and art, the wild and cultivated, so frequently interchange and
charm by their variety.
Newby Bridge is situated at the lower end of Windermere, where the
Leven river forms the
outlet of the lake. It is
a Bwcet spot, having a
pretty inn on the shore
of the river embosomed
in trees, with lofly wood-
covered hills on every
side. The bridge is well
constructed ; a more
charming but retired scene
it would be difficult to
find in any part of the
country, and the southern
end of the lake of Winder-
mere contracting, flows on
smoothly to the Bridge,
where it finds an outlet
in what is called the
Leven river, which with the Crake, falls into the sea in the deep and exten-
sive inlet called Leven Sands. The bed of the Leven declines a hundred and
five feet in four miles, and consequently the river flows with great rapidity
&om this bridge.
From Newby Bridge a road leads directly to Ulverston, the capital
of Fumess, a second road in the opposite direction by Fell Foot goes to
Kendal, and two others follow the eastern and western shores of Windermere,
one passing through Bowness on the eastern shore to Ambleside at the head of
the lake, and the other leading by the ferry-house to the same place westward,
round the head of the lake, or through Hawkshcad by Esthwaitc water, to
I
314 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
the same destination, as well as to Coniston. It is only the southern portion of
Windermere, containing the beautiful but not the most striking part of it«
admirable scenery, which belongs to Lancashire, we shall therefore confine
our mention of it to that portion which came under our notice as we proceeded
along the eastern shore to the ferry at the Lancashire limit, near Storrs Hall.
On quitting the inn at Newby Bridge, and getting clear of the wood in
which it is embowered, leaving the beautiful broad stream of the Leven on
the left, we soon gained distance sufficient to observe the rocky and wood-
crowned hills which rise on the western shore; and came to a villa
charmingly situated just where the road divides to Ambleside and Kendal,
across the grounds of which, laid out in all the profusion and elegance of
modem culture, were flower-beds of a thousand hues set in the richest turf,
and here and there a fine towering ash or oak ; while twining around the
trunks of larger trees, the woodbine perfumed the air with its fragrance, and
the rich rose and scented brier mingled odours that came across the road in
gushes of firagrance. Trellis-work, reared against the openings of a long
shady verandah, and over well-disposed seats, that commanded a long sweep
of the lustrous water below, was covered with creeping plants enameled with
gaudy flowers; the sward was kept with great nicety, and the shrubs and
trees of all kinds grew in full luxuriance; in fact the commencement o{
the road round Windermere in this direction was full of beauty — beauty
of the most perfect kind, but still of a character too brilliant to last, and if it
did last, certain to pall upon the senses and clog the appetite. This happily
is not the case; the scenery continually alters in character, except to the
sublime, or perhaps to the grand, which must be sought at the northern end
of the lake ; at the southern all is lovely, often abrupt, wild and soft by turns,
and firom the road beyond, and near Fell Foot, shifting its character every
mile, until at Storrs it mingles the most imposing aspect with all the graces
of pictorial beauty. Across such grounds, forming the firont of the picture,
come the blue sparkling waters of the lake, where they begin to widen; and
on the opposite side, hills covered with foliage to the summits, their deep
green relieved by a grey rock jutting out here and there; and immediately
opposite, or rather more southward, and consequently somewhat lower down,
or just above Newby Bridge, on the part of the hill facing the lake, an old
tower peeps over the surrounding foliage, exceedingly well placed in the
landscape. We continued to ascend a trifling declivity, having the villa and
grounds still on our left, the lake breaking here and there upon the view
in diflerent combinations, like the scenes of a beautiful vision, until the
plantations and woods next the water became more dense, and our view was
confined on that side to the road alone, though on the right, hills wood-covered
and steep, belonging to the skirts of the Cartmel Fells, rose high over our
heads, fore-shortened from proximity. At times, the trees which covered
them flung out their spreading branches to meet those on the lake side of
LANCASHIRE. 315
the road, and we seemed passing through a forest remote in every sense &om
the scenery that really existed around us. After proceeding a short distance
in this secluded road, on a sudden the view on the left would now and then
open through a break in the woods, rich emerald-hued meadows would be
seen stretching down to the edge of the water, that reflected in its cerulean
wave the opposite shore, shooting out in little green-covered projections
with the flowers they bore, or covered with trees darkening their margins
under pendant foliage. In one place appeared a little sweetly-rounded
cove, or fairy bay, at the bottom of a coppice-clothed eminence, wildly
beautiftd, and then a pretty creek seemed to invite the anchorage of the
pleasure boat, that its freight of youth and beauty might track out the cool
recesses of its overarching woods. In the next quarter of a mile not a
gleam of the translucent water would be perceived, as it had occasionally
been seen before, not even amid the trunks of the trees, shooting arrowy
beams the brighter for the medium of shade through which they reached the
eye. Thus ever new and varying, the lake side of the road kept curiosity
continually alert in expectation of what the next opening would reveaL
It soon expanded considerably; the summits of the nearest ridge on the
other side, irregular enough for every purpose of picturesque effect, now
began to shew they were but secondary to others that peered up beyond
them; some grey from distance, peaked or roimd, or jagged in outline,
proving that we were more distant than before from the opposite side of the
lake. The road over which we were walking ascended and descended con-
tinually, every thing combining to ensure never-failing variety, the great charm
of such scenery. In one place on the western shore, three little promontories
came out into the lake, covered with dense foliage, and above them at a con-
siderable height rose a continuous woody ridge, its hue lighter from distance,
but still of a deep green; and beyond, of a bluish grey tint, fantastical summits
shot up, which we imagined to be part of the Coniston hills, but that they
were not cloud-capped, though truly imposing in appearance, rendering the
landscape distance perfect in outline and colour. Thus ever changing, flitting
like the hues of fancy, and lovely as a dream of genius, appeared the lake
as we jogged along towards Bowness, until we came to where gentle slopes
border it, and the road recedes to some little distance only to approximate
again, rocks impending on the right hand, and unseen streams gurgling and
tumbling down in tiny cascades, then passing under the footway, and finding
their oblivion in the little ocean beneath. We now looked back across the
lake diagonally, and saw the wooded hill and tower above Newby Bridge to
great advantage; it was the last glimpse we had of them; but we continued
to mark distant peaks over the nearer heights on the opposite side of the
water, sometimes wildly grand, or sufficiently so to assure us that the '^ strong
hills" were there.
We had proceeded thus far during a day that was cloudless and beautifulj
316 ENCI.AKU IN THE KINETEENTII
and had little doubt of reaching our destination at the ferry-house, which
we concluded could not be more than between two or three miles further
on, when we perceived the atmosphere in the south become darkened, and
a few di'ops of rain to fall; we made up our minds for a thunder storm, and
were not disappointed. Unfortunately wc were Upon a spot closely shaded
with trees, out of view of the lake, as the clouds drew their lurid veil
between the sun and the water that was just before sparkling and flashing in
Uie full effulgence of its beams. A deeper darkness now came over the atmo-
sphere, and shelter there was none, save an overhanging hollow in a quarry,
whence stone had been taken to repair the road. The thunder reverberated
among the liills, and from side to side of the lake, in a loud and yet a louder
reverberation; sometimes seeming to return again and again from the northern
end. No living creature passed us on the road, upon which we were now
compelled to travel to hrave the rain, ITie clouds had descended, and only
one fine glimpse more of the lake was attainable until we reached the ferry;
this was looking over Storrs Hall to the opposite side, where a little
promontory with an island was overtopped by a lofty hill, which last, descend-
ing into the lake, rendered it narrower, and was covered with wood ; while off
one end, to the northward, appeared the well known island, the gem on the
bosom of this queen of British waters. The ferry is some way down from the
road on the left hand, upon the Storrs side of Furness; Bowness being a
mile further on. Storrs, the seat of the late Mr. Bolton of Liverpool, in the
most charming of
situations on the
verge of the lake,
is in ■Westmore-
land as well as
the ferry ; we
shall, therefore,
merely add that
the traveller,
leaving the Bow-
ness road, turns
down to the edge
of the water
under some
trees, and there
Jinds a little causeway consisting of a few loose stones. It is so near the
ferry-house on the other border of the lake, that if the boat should not
be an the Bowness side the traveller will be seen, and one will put off for
his conveyance. The lake too is here so narrow that a loud call may be
heard all the way across. Here we embarked, and when half way over, it
being clear towards the north east, wore looking at Elleray, the property
LANCASHIIIE. 317
of Professor Wilson, and admiring its beautiful site, when we dropped our
note-book in the lake, and in a few minutes saw it some distance away,
the rain all the time pouring in torrents. We succeeded in recovering it,
and were soon in the ferry-house inn, so beautiftilly situated, and well known
by numberless engravings. We were also again in Lancashire, in the romantic
district of High Fumess.
Evening was come, and the scene increased in interest; as we glanced
from the inn window towards Curwen's Island, and in the direction of
Bowness, across the expanse of water so tranquil and glossy, night was
rendering all dim. We found the inn handsomely furnished, and hugged
ourselves on our good luck; for cold, hungry, and soaked with rain, having
no change of dress, we needed some refreshment at least. A bit of poor bacon,
three fingers in width, was produced, together with a heaped-up plate of
thin oat rusks resembling bits of chamois leather stiffened in glue, a species
of food certainly never intended for the biped man, except under dire
necessity. We could obtain nothing more; so, calling for a glass of brandy,
we paid for the wretched fare, and set off for Hawkshead, three miles distant,
wet and hungry. The atmosphere was chill, the roads deep in mire from the
rain; but we resolved to brave every thing to avoid such vile food, *a
crowning calamity,' as a Roimdhead would call it. The road went by the
inn on the margin of the lake, and then ascended a steep and long hill covered
with wood, directly up from the water. We were cheered by the beams of
the moon, which had risen in great beauty; and keeping briskly on, had
proceeded about a mile, through a road between hedges, the moon every
moment increasing in splendour, when all at once upon the west side of the
way a broad expanse of water appeared sleeping in exquisite beauty, with a
white dwelling scattered here and there along its tranquil shores, to which
the road soon became parallel from the angle in which we approached it. This
was Esthwaite Water, not quite three miles long; and it lay so sweetly and
softly stretched out, its bosom so silvery and pure, and all had come upon
us so unexpectedly, that we forgot fatigue and himger, fairly standing for
half an hour to enjoy the foil effect of a sight — the surpassing tranquillity
and beauty of a moonlit scene, with its backgroimd of mountains, to which
we have nowhere seen an equal. At length we entered the little town
of Hawkshead, where at the Red Lion inn, unpretending, but clean and
neat, we solaced our recent disappointment in a far more showy place, with
excellent eggs, ham, and tea; and for these, for supper, bed, and breakfast
in addition, we paid the next day the moderate sum of five shillings!
Hawkshead is an excellent station for the tourist to the lakes and mountains.
It is about five miles from Ambleside, where those who seek retirement are
continually bored by other visitants; and is about the same distance from
Bowness, by the ferry, and equally a key to the mountain scenery east
or north; while Coniston, with its moimtains and fine lake, are within three
318 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
miles, Windermere three, and the district of Lower Fumess accessible
over a picturesque road down the shores of Coniston Lake, by Nibthwaite,
or through Broughton, and along the estuary of the Duddon, to Dalton, Fur-
ness Abbey, Walney, Rampside, Ulverston, and the scenery of that remote
peninsula.
Hawkshead church is situated in a spot which commands the whole
lake and its lovely valley, with tree-fringed borders, pretty capes, and rich
meadows; an elegant villa or two come well into the picture, thus present-
ing a landscape of peculiar grace and beauty. The church, dedicated to
St. Michael, is a plain substantial edifice, having a nave, side aisles, and
chancel; there is a low tower attached; it is supposed to be of the Norman
age, except the roof and some alterations made in the reign of Charles I.,
about 1633; the windows are circular. There are some ancient monuments
with defaced inscriptions. Archbishop Sandys, who was born here, and
died in 1688, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, made this a parish church,
it being previously a chapelry, and he also endowed the free Grammar School,
which is of considerable repute. This is a market town, and has five annual
fairs; the town-house was erected in 1790. Hawkshead Hall lies a mile
north of the town, and was once both a manorial dwelling and a monastic cell :
it is inhabited by a farmer. The townships in this parish are Monk Coniston
with Skclwith, Claife, and Satterthwaite. In Claife is the lofty mountain
ridge called * Fumess Fell;' at Gruithwaite, in Satterthwaite, is an old seat of
the Sandys; and near Hawkshead on the north, is Bellemont House, whether
inhabited now or not we neglected to inquire. Monk Coniston is hilly,
and Skelwith contains mountains of considerable elevation, as that of Wester-
ham for example; it also boasts mines of coal, a little copper, and slate in
plenty.
Proceeding from Hawkshead to Coniston Lake, a distance of three miles,
a steep hill or two must be passed, having to the north and north east, scenes
either of wonderful grandeur or savage wildness. Mountains are heaped
upon mountains as far as the eye can command, black or brown or grey in
colour, of all shapes and sizes; some terrifically rough and rugged, others
fantastic, and a few regular in form. Lighter in colour as they recede,
a solitary summit here and there, extremely distant, fades into the
purple of the sky. When the clouds hover round these summits, the por-
tions of the enormous masses displayed seem to connect what is unseen with
some awful mystery, and the mind is overwhelmed with the sensation. From
hence, in the direction of Keswick, rise Langdale Pikes, and more easterly,
Helvellyn; Skiddaw is almost due north. On proceeding within half a mile
of the head of Coniston Lake, a descent begins, and firom thence Coniston
Fells, among them the Old Man Mountain, appear in the west to great
advantage, and continue to present their imposing forms until the inn at
Waterhead is reached, before which the lake of Coniston spreads forth its
lANCASHIRE. 319
blue waves and protrudes its promontories on the south; while on the west.
Church Coniston and its white buildings, consisting of farms, neat houses
and cottages, stand snugly placed at the foot of the Fells, which rise behind
the village 2600 feet. These dwellings are scattered in romantic disorder,
some upon bold elevations, others amid trees on the first slope of the
mountains up from the lake, or backed by coppice woods, or so high as to
look suspended in the air when the clouds come low down, veiling in mist
the brown heaths and crags above them. The lowest of these houses are
neat, and surrounded with shrubberies and evergreens, kept in perpetual
freshness of verdure by the frequent showers that iah from the clouds round
the summits above them. The Waterhead inn is a delightfully retired spot
on the edge of the lake, about three quarters of a mile from Church
Coniston. There is nothing around Coniston water which equals the view
of that lake from the road above Waterhead, solely owing to the grandeur
of the Fells. To these last belong the Old Man, Wilney Sar, and Westerham ;
while a belt of cultivated land, meadow, and wood, lies along the margin of
the lake at their feet. Behind these, wild steeps, brown heathy slopes and
blue slate summits exhibit themselves, and point up with majestic or rugged
outline into the higher regions of the atmosphere. From Waterhead, too, a
promontory on the eastern side, which looks out far into the lake, is seen to
great advantage, broken and picturesque as it is; while upon taking a boat
to the middle of the lake, a mile or two from Waterhead towards Nib-
thwaite, the mountains on the north become visible a&r off; and Helvellyn,
of which the lake poets have made bo much, is seen in the distance, with a
whole forest of summits, and waves of blue mountain ridges, at once a novel
and sublime sight. The eastern side of Coniston affords the best station,
because it is upon the north west that all the magnificent scenery near
the lake is found, which is too much foreshortened on the western side,
although nothing can be finer than the heights over Church Coniston, seen
from the edge of the lake near the village; but then the view admits of
Uttle perspective, and excludes
the more interesting mountain
summits beyond. Among these,
the Old Man, sketched from
the south-west side of an in-
teresting hill coppice, some way
on the road to Broughton, and
here exhibited, is one of the
most striking.
The lake is about six miles
long, nowhere quite a mile in
breadth, and nearly 40 fathoms
deep in the deepest part. A number of streams fall into it, of which Coniston
320 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
Beck and Black Beck are the principal. The village of Monk Coniston
must not be confounded with Church Coniston; the former being on the
eastern side of the lake, in the parish of Hawkshead, upon the left hand at
some little distance on descending the hill to Waterhead.
Just over the Waterhead inn, but some way up towards the summit of
the hill, there is a single villa charmingly placed, looking down the lake and
commanding the Fells in all their sublimity. The Old Man is easily ascended
in one direction, but towards Coniston it throws out a ridge, upon which
Coniston itself stands; then a deep valley intervenes, and the king^ of the
Coniston Fells rises abruptly, and in many places almost perpendicularly,
so that it cannot be ascended from some points for the precipices and chasms
that oppose the adventurer even towards the base. On ascending and firriving
half-way up, rocks and stones cover nearly the whole surface, but as the
summit is approached the ascent becomes easier. There is a lofty heap of
stones piled on the top, visible from a great distance, while round is spread a
sea of mountains, except where the estuary of the Duddon breaks between
them on the south. Lakes, rivers, rocks, woods, deep valleys, and glittering
waves are visible in magnificent confusion from the brow of the old giant
of Coniston, as well as the labours of cultivation, trim dwellings and proud
mansions. We were compelled to a brief glance where we should have
lingered long, from the appearance of the clouds that came rolling landward
from the west; a frequent occurrence in such situations, indicating that the
mountain would soon be veiled in mist, which indeed was quickly the case
for the remnant of that and all the following day.
We took the road by Church Coniston, passing on the left Coniston Hall,
a low but antique building near the lake, now forsaken to its fate. It was
once the property of the family of the Flemings, the owners of the manor
of Coniston, for seven descents. The view of the lake from the hill a little
above this desolate hall is exceedingly fine, but too much of its narrowness
is exhibited, it assumes the appearance of a river, and has much less of
the lake character, — a defect common to many of the British waters. The
shores are rocky in several parts on the western side for some distance^ and
not far out from them in one place is a small craggy island. A little farther to
the southward, but inland from the lake, rises a dark brown hill, barren
and gloomy enough; and from this hill a stream tumbles and foams along,
thundering through its deep-worn channel to the lake. This stream is one of
the lake feeders, and is called the Black Beck of Torver. The water slept in
placid beauty on the eastern side, and mirrored in itself many little bays
and mimic gulfs, with the scenery that rose frirther ofif above its surface.
The view up the lake, from Nibthwaite near the southern end, commands
almost the whole expanse to Waterhead, and has the advantage of taking in
the mountains on the north far beyond its borders as well as the Fells above
Coniston; from hence, too, the view is less river like, the mountains arc
LANCASHIRE. 321
distant, but they finish the picture well. It is better to visit Nibthwaite
first, and proceed northwards, in place of descending from the more imposing
scenery to that which is less striking, or from the sublime to the merely
beautiM. This lake bears no resemblance to Windermere, it has much less
of art, and exhibits an agreeable blending of wildness and beauty. Still less
does it resemble Esthwaite, the moonlit witchery of the gentle Esthwaite^
that is so unassumingly pretty, so simply attractive ; but we prefer it to either,
because it has something of what each of the others possesses, with its own
peculiar features.
The road to Lowick, from Nibthwaite, lies through a barren hilly country,
with slips of cultivation .intermingled, the elevations covered with heather,
but affording some pleasing rural scenes. The ancient manor-house of
Lowick, called Lowick Hall, much dilapidated; and the chapel, not far
distant, erected about 1680; these are both backed by sterile mountains, grey
or dark crags, heath and coppice. We now returned northwards by a road on
the western side of the Crake river, which is the outlet of Coniston Lake,
the road we had taken from Nibthwaite to Lowick being on the eastern side
of that stream, which also separates High, from Low Fumess, and passing
through Blawith, came again in sight of Coniston water, only to leave it
behind us as we proceeded westward into the road leading from Church
Coniston to Broughton. Some way before reaching that town we imex-
pectedly saw before us the estuary of the Duddon river, and the Black Comb
moimtains of Cimiberland beyond, which rise with no very inviting aspect
to a considerable elevation, while far beneath, fringed with coppice and
wood, cottage and villa intermingled with them, lay the Duddon, expanding
into what are called the Duddon Sands, and beyond these was the sea.
There is a hill about three miles north of Broughton where this view is seen
to great advantage, coming as it does suddenly upon the traveller. The
Black Comb moimtains rise in ridges, gloomy and sombre, parallel with
the Duddon, each higher than that to the eastward of it, until the Black
Comb mountain itself finishes the scene, with its cloud-capped apex. The
Cumberland side of the Duddon presents a cape answering to Sand Scale
Haws and the Isle of Walney in Lower Fumess, upon the south east. The
view from the summit of Black Comb is said to be wonderfully extensive,
which its position upon a promontory, rather than its height, necessarily
implies, but much of the horizon it commands must be water; yet eastward and
southward, the variety and character of the objects that come within the scope
of vision preclude all chance of the tourist not being amply repaid for the
trouble of the ascent. In Cumberland, Egremont, Mulcaster, Ravenglass,
Bootle, most of the mountains to the northwards are seen; and the Duddon,
with its variegated shores and sands; the Isle of Walney, File Castle,
Broughton, and the Lancashire moimtains to the west, as well as the sea to
a vast extent, including the Isle of Man; all these are plainly observable,
T T
322 ENGLAND IN THB NINETEENTH CENTURY:
according to local information. We did not cross the Duddon Sands to
examine for ourselves, as it would have been exploring a new county.
The way to Broughton lies almost parallel with the Duddon for a short
distance before reaching that sequestered town, on approaching which the
road drops beneath a hill that upon the eastern side throws out a little
spur covered with wood towards the river, behind which little spur
or hill-promontory the town lies, and cannot be seen imtil the houses are
close at hand. The ground on the extreme part of the projection is some-
what higher at its termination than at the neck which connects it with the
eastern ridge ; and on this neck, the groimd on both sides wooded, appeared
what at a distant view we took to be a church, but which in reality proved
to be the towered portion of an ancient building connected with a modem
dwelling. This is Broughton Tower, the ancient part of which is all that
remains of the residence of the unfortunate Sir Thomas Broughton, com-
manding a fine view of the Duddon and the Cumberland moiintains beyond.
In 1487, the lord of Broughton was induced to join Lambert Simnell, who
had landed at the Pile of Fouldrey, with a foreign force under a German
named Swart. At the battle of Stoke, when the invader was defeated. Sir
Thomas Broughton is said by some accounts to have been slain, by others
to have escaped, and resided in concealment with a tenant in Westmoreland,
where he died without issue, in 1495. Henry VII. seized his possessions,
and added them to the already overgrown property of the Stanleys, together
with other forfeitures. In the wars of Charles I., the Stanleys had their
reverses, Broughton was sold; and it is now the property of John Sawrey,
Esq., one of whose ancestors greatly improved it.
Broughton is a town and township of Kirkby Ireleth parish^ very pleasantly
situated, having a southern aspect, with a slope down to the Duddon nearly a
mile distant. The houses are of stone, slated; and in the centre of the place
there is a neat square, out of one angle of which an avenue of ancient trees
leads up to Broughton Tower, while in the centre of the square is a handsome
obelisk. We walked up to the tower, but found that three sides of it had
been built into a mansion, at present uninhabited, but in a very agreeable
situation. The principal manufactures here are hoops and brush stocks; the
woollen trade, once flourishing, having been ruined by the introduction
of machinery. Iron, copper, and slate, are found in the neighbourhood. The
Duddon is navigable for small vessels, which take in cargoes of slate and iron
ore at Duddon bridge. The church of Broughton (shewn on the opposite
page) is dedicated to the Holy Trinity, and near it some beautiful views
are commanded. The moimtain to the right of the tower belongs to the Black
Comb range, and is on the other side of the Duddon, while the view on the
left extends seaward over the sands. This parish is remarkable for the longevity
of its inhabitants, the air being singularly mild, open to the south, and the
site a hill-side with the sea beyond, while the pestiferous north-east and east
LAMCASHIBE.
winds have email access. On entering the churchyard we saw some noble yew
trees, the fragment of a cross, and almost upon the first memorial we encountered
the following names and ages: — WilliamWalton, of Broughton, surgeon, died
Sept. 6, 1767, aged 78; also Anne his wife, 1791, aged 104. T. Walton,
died 1748, aged 101 ; and Mary his wife, 1749, aged 94; also "W. Walton, of
Bradstone, died 1801, aged 80; and in 1805 his wife, aged 81. On another
stone close by we read : W. Latham, 1783, aged 78; Mary his wife, 1787,
aged 67; Anne their daughter, 18^, aged 86; and Margaret Walhcr, aged
90. It b rare that single sepulchral stones record such examples of lon-
gevity as these.
We left Broughton for Dalton, a distance o£ twelve miles, the road
running parallel for much of the way with the Duddon sands, and far
distant scenes being continually in view. We passed through Kirkby Ireleth,
which parish is limited westward by the sands, that are three miles across
into Cumberland. The Duddon sands, it being low water when wc saw tliem,
presented a number of cockle pickers, these shell-fish being accounted finer and
better flavoured here than elsewhere; and it has been calculated that 285,120
are collected daily, reckoning at ninety to the quart; yet the supply is equal
to the demand. Near Kirkby is a sea inlet from the sands, kept free by
the hill streams, called Kirkby Pool. The church is a plain, rough-cast
building, said to be as old as the time of Henry IV., with the exception of
the tower; the doorway has a Saxon semicircular arch. Kirkby Hall, the
residence of the family of Kirkby for ten generations, is a low building of stone,
with the rooms large; one called the Chapel has massy oaken beams, with the
Ten Commandments and Paternoster in hlack letter upon the walls. Some
of the rooms are covered with wainscot, and others ornamented fancifully in
plaster. It is impossible to view a forsaken residence of this kind, inhabited
for three or four centuries by a succession of the same lamily, and not feel
passing through the mind conjectures about the inhabitants, the births and
deaths that the walls have witnessed, and the scenes that must have happened
there which have left no record, summing up with reflections humiliating to
humanity ; for memorials of the past inhabitants exist in many parts of the
building, consisting of initial letters and escutcheons.
3X4 ENGLAND IN THB NINETEENTH CKNTCRY :
We entered Dalton, wliich in the palmy days of the Abbey of Fumesa
was the capital of all FumeBS and North Loaedale; but its importance has
passed away with its patrons the good abbots. The situation is lofty, Btanding
upon a rocky elevation facing the east, consisting principally of one street
terminating on the summit, upon which is the square tower so much a subject
of inquiry among the antiquaries, called Dalton Tower, once the court-house
of the abbots of Fumess.
The parish of Dalton is large, being ten miles long by four broad, it
includes the island of Walney and the Pile of Fouldrey, with all the lesser isles
upon the south and west of Lower Fumess. The modem church stands near
the tower above mentioned, and is a plain edifice, on the site of an aged pre-
decessor, situated upon the side of the hill, and supposed to be within the
limits of what was once the court of a castle, for which object some contend
the tower was originally erected, as it would in such a case have stood on the
most Jofty ground; but if there was a castle at all, it was probably of British
not Roman origin. In this churchyard, standing
unconsciously upon a flat slab of red sandstone,
so common in the neighbourhood, we found we
were over the grave of George Romney the
painter, who died at Kendal in 1802, and was
brought here to his native place for interment,
having been bom at Dalton in 1734; an artist
who has been commemorated by Cowper, and,
less enduringly, by Hayley. The Tower is
immediately opposite the principal gate leading
into the churchyard close to the vicarage-house,
and is generally supposed, whatever work of
defence might have stood there before it, not
to be older than the reign of Edward IIL
The space in front is used for a market; and
a stone cross is erected there, of which the
annexed is a representation.
Dalton Tower, called the " Castle," is an oblong building (represented on
the following page), twenty-five feet from east to west, and thirty from north
to south. The walls are of limestone, six feet thick. There are two entrances ;
one on the south and another on the west. The ground floor is divided into
two rooms; and from Uie western entrance a staircase leads to the upper,
which is lighted from the window in the southern end, where a court for
the recovery of small debts is held; and from this room a staircase conducts
to the leads. There is a dark dungeon below the stairs, which was most
probably a prison. The external angles of the building are surmounted with
seated figures, which have a grotesque appearance. On the south side of
the town we descended by the church and hill side into a little valley beneath.
LANCASHIRE. 3S5
through which there ran a stream of pure water. The country round Dalton
presents little that is striking; but upon crossing this stream, and keeping it
upon the right hand for a
short distance, we came to
a stile leading into a path
field, near where a carriage
road passed up the hill
more to the left. Within
the stile the path was shaded
for some distance bytrees of
considerable growth. We
soon found ourselves in the
open field, curving round
the hill until we were tra-
versing one side of a sweet
sequestered valley, the bot-
tom of which was green-
sward, perfectly flat, and
the opposite side steep, lofty,
and clothed with wood, but
at a little distance. We continued our walk until we reached a mill, that
might have furnished a study for an artist, it lay in so rural and picturesque
a spot ; and not a great way further we came again upon the road, which had
passed away to the left on crossing the stile akeady mentioned, upon which
several noisy carts were conveying iron ore from the.mines in the vicinity of
Dalton. The road was deeply coloured with red ochre, as well as the carts,
the dresses of the carters, and the harness of the horses ; and we sat down
a moment while they passed, that the scenery of this snug and quiet vale might
be enjoyed without such rude sounds, ill comporting with its softness and
seclusion. Of flowers we saw few: dark green verdure covered all. We
then went out upon the road, which we followed for about a hundred
yards past the stream, and then quitting it again, entered a gate on the
left, which opened upon a level road on the opposite side of the stream
and valley from that we had before followed; diverging from the turn-
pike, which went more to the right up the hill on the same side of the
vale. Our way now lay along a lane overshadowed with trees through
the remaining part of the valley, in the immediate vicinity of tie
Abbey, not an unfitting prelude to that solitude which the royal thirst
for spoil, not reformation, had created around us, and but for which the
venerable walls of the abbey had been now entire, dedicated to some
useful purpose. The luxuriant foliage, sheltered from the sea winds by
the hills, grew more dense as we proceeded; the ash seemed to predomi-
nate in all the greeimess of hue so peculiarly its own, and so refreshing to
826 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
the vision. We looked in vain for the nightshade, which gave the ancient
name of Bekan's Gill to this secluded valley from the redundancy of its
growth, derived from Lethan Bekan,* " the vale of the deadly nightshade."
We saw not a leaf or stem of the plant. A situation so well adapted for the
contemplative spirit, for the mind " commercing with the skies," could not
be found. Sequestered, solemn, tranquil, and heart-soothing, the predominant
gloom was in perfect keeping for ushering us to the wrecks of the past, and
the sepulchres that lay beneath their neglected fragments; it was the *' lodge
in the wilderness," the " boundless contiguity of shade" — ^that was Cowper's
aspiration.
At length the vista of foliage disclosed before us a venerable gateway,
consisting of a fine Gothic arch partially concealed among the overhanging
branches, built of a red-coloured stone abounding in the neighbourhood,
and overspread in some places with ivy. We never saw an arch applied to
a similar purpose that united grace with strength so effectively, but simple
and unomamented. Passing beneath, immediately within on the left side
appears what has been the lodge of the outer porter, built with great strength,
having massy ribs in the arched roof; and a little further on upon the right,
are barns and stables, which once belonged to the abbey. Opposite these
stands on the left the remains of the Eleemosynary, the place where
strangers were entertained, and an old building which is now used for a
farmhouse, once most probably the manor house, erected out of the ruins of the
abbey. Directly in front is an open space covered with the natural turf, at
the extremity of which, stretched across the fiill expanse of the vale, rise
the noble ruins of the church, the northern side of which for its entire
length first presents itself to the view — a melancholy memorial of departed
greatness, majestic in decay, beautiful in desolation. The choir, nave,
and belfry, with the northern transept, rent and ruined, still exhibit walls in
some places between fifty and sixty feet high. Not far from the east end,
are the remains of a porter's lodge, that was the entrance of the inner
inclosure, between which and the transept are the graves of the fiithers, whose
tombstones were recently discovered. The last, thanks to the Earl of Bur-
lington, the owner of these fine ruins, still rest over the ashes where they
were originally placed. Near this spot the broken arches and shattered walls
to the southward have a striking effect, and from the eastern end the window
rising nearly to the roof and descending almost to the ground, affords a noble
view of the interior, looking westward, terminated by the massy belfry, the
walls of which are of vast thickness, relieved by the dark wood beyond,
and on the southern side exhibiting windows overhung with foliage ; here
broken arches and shattered buttresses are crowned with vegetation in
picturesque wildness, its fresh colours smiling upon the decay which sustains
* The SoUnum Lcthale — " hsc thIUs tenuit olim stbi nomen ab herba Bekan qua vixuit dulcis
nunc, tunc sed acerba.** — Monoii, Anglic.
LANCASHIRE. 3S7
the festoons with which it has connected the rents of time, mocking the grey-
[ ness of centuries with ornaments that survive but for a summer. The choir
L has been lately cleared of rubbish, as well as the entire level of the church,
in doing which several effigies from monuments were discovered, as well as
the tombs of the fathers on the outside, already mentioned. These effigies
- are of marble, and are preserved by wooden coverings. Over the great east
window, some of the glass of which is preserved still in Windermere church,
k so high as to be beyond the reach of mutilation, stand the busts of King
Stephen and his queen in excellent preservation, they having been the
great benefactors to the abbey in 1127. These busts appear to have suffered
J. little from time, being most probably carved of a different stone from that
used in the other parts of the building. The south transept has an entrance
^^ into two chapels on the east side and into the vestry. A door from the
dormitory opens into one of these chapels, by which the monks entered the
church at night, and another door in the south-east corner of the nave leads into
the cloisters, of which there are very imimportant remains. The chapter-
house, refectory, and a suite of apartments that extended as far as what is sup-
posed to be the school-room, many of which have little of the walls remaining
above the foundations, must have been, when perfect, most extensive and com-
modious if not magnificent, since from the north transept to the school-room,
which last is entire, measures 430 feet, the length of the building at right
angles with the transepts of the church. The simple but solid workmanship
in the arches and the strength of the masonry, are not more striking than the
deficiency of the materials in durability. The kitchen and offices had very
pure running water beneath them, over which an arch was turned for a
considerable width, with here and there openings for access ; the whole plan
may be easily traced, although the appropriation of some of the outbuildings
it may be difficult to decide upon. The trees which surroimd or grow out of
^ the walls add much to the impressive effect by causing numerous changes of
light and shade, often overshadowing windows through which the eye takes
' in dark arches and intervening lights, with bits of exquisite beauty for pictorial
effect. In some places, where through arched windows others of massy
proportion cross them and the light comes flashing between, the effect is not
only solemn but grand. A row of broken pillars, a range of windows little
injured, an arch with beautiful and massive regularity, or groins of most exact
execution, all catch the attention. The finest perspective is from the east
window to which w6 before alluded, the best position for the spectator
in this perhaps the first of British monastic ruins. From thence the labours
of man tuider the wasting of time are seen in a union of effect highly pic*
turesque; and the pride of humanity is more humbled by the lesson, than
it ever was by the words uttered before the blazing altars once standing
there, declaratory of the vanity of earthly things; these, visible and tangible,
echo to thoughts, not to words, that have become trite from repetition.
328 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
To these noble apartments must have repaired all the "pride and cir-
cumstance" of monosticil authority and of religious duty. Great hospitality,
large alms, devout exer-
cises, and monastic laws;
and all these ha™g
passed away, we can only
meditate over their memo-
rials, and regret, in place
of enriching court syco-
phants and a tyrant's
power, some less questi-
onable application had not
been made of their spoils.
Both round and pointed
arches occur in this build-
ing, as well aa Saxon and
Gothic pillars. The whole
was constructed with great
solidity, the cement being
more durable than the
stone ; but we were struck with the decay of this material in some of the
arches, where water has most probably been the agent, while the cement
remains unaffected by its action. The chapter-house roof was entire as late
as the middle of the last century. This roQm measures sixty feet by forty-
five, the roof was supported by a double row of columns, which divided it
into three aisles of fourteen feet each in width; and it is the only apartment
that, admitting some little share of ornament, in&ingcd upon the severe
simplicity of this noble edifice elsewhere. The roof of the school-house
is the only one entire in the large extent of the ruin. The centre tower
rested upon four arches, supported by a like number of pillars richly clus-
tered, while the whole was closely surrounded by a wall, which left only
the western end of the building and the northern side of the church open as
far as the north-western comer of the northern transept, where the entrance
door was close to the western angle, and the wall beginning near it was
continued, after a small turn, to the inner lodge, which stood at the
entrance of the burying-place of the abbots. There, upon removing the
rubbish, theii memorials were recently discovered, lying over the remains
they wore designed to record; objects of as much interest as the abbey ruins
themselves. From the lodge the wall ran southward, and terminated near the
school-house, and the area of the quadrangular court in firont of the cloisters
measured 338 feet by 102. There was yet an outer wall, which enclosed
monastery, mills, fish-pond, and gardens, circumscribing a space of sixty-fi^c
acres; from the site of which there are noble \icws. The labour in
LANCASHIRE. 329
producing such an establishment as that of Furness, with the gardens and
granges, must have been enormous, for the spot was an uncultivated wild when
the monks settled there. The gardens were generally kept in order by
their own hands ; and it is a singular proof of the lapse of the people in the
districts round Furness into agricultural barbarism, at least after the ruin of
the place,* that marl pits opened by the monks may be still seen on all their
granges near the abbey, the use of which was unknown in Furness until a
few years ago, having been lost, nor was it credited that wheat had ever been
grown there until of late years, though it was constantly harvested by the
monks and their tenantry, until Henry VIII. rendered the neighbourhood
again a desert.
Such is the state of this remnant of the most noted Cistercian house in
England, and thus it vanished, despite its charters from twelve kings, and
many Papal bulls in its favour. Its revenues, that fed numbers of poor persons,
became the prize of crowned avarice, and the poor were turned out to perish.
Nor was the fate of the abbey inmates much better; the last abbot, Roger Pyle,
had no choice but to surrender his high trust or be hanged, as most of the
principals of such institutions were, who would not declare that they surren-
dered them " voluntarily," and add their belief that Henry VIII. was God's
vicegerent upon earth in place of the Pope. Pyle was recompensed by the
rectory of Dalton, worth 33/. 6*. 8d, per annum, and was thus destined to live
in the midst of the melancholy wrecks of what it had been his lot to govern,
and the toil of many ages to accumulate.
The sides of the hollow in which the abbey stands approach very close
to the east and west ends of the ruin, and the dark foliage which almost
touches them, and in which they seem to be enveloped, renders their aspect
more than commonly sombre, imparting to them an unusual degree of that
interest always felt, on being present where the relentless foot of time
tramples upon the wrecks of human greatness. The mind broods over the
past; imagination, overleaping the bounds of three centuries and a half,
restores what years have destroyed, and seeing in the shadowy picture a
momentary reality, comes again to existing things only to make a disadvan-
tageous comparison, and " turn the past to pain," because the present is not
yet become of the things which have been. There are remains of the gaxden
wall, over which in some places the views are varied and beauti^, but
the wall must itself have formed the extreme point of view from the abbey
beneath ; and near this boundary we catch a noble and extensive prospect,
particularly from a spot called the Beacon, where there was once a watch
tower; then turning to the dell below, see the most striking contrast in the
gloom from which we have just emerged, with the distant, far-spread sea, the
glittering sands, and the remote horizon, upon which the sun shines as glo-
riously as ever. We could not help turning to take a farewell glance of these
• West's Hist, of Fuincss.
u u
330 ENGLAND IN THE NINETKENTII CENTURY:
noble remains. Had the building been entire, situated in such a retired spot,
and the circumambient scenery wearing a character so opposite, the impress
must have been one bordering upon melancholy.
In that spot the hymn had been sung, and the organ pealed along the
aisles now covered with the sod and shaded by spontaneous vegetation^ the
worship of a race that had passed away for ever. There, at the north-west
angle of the church, where grain is now reaped, and aU is one smoothed
vegetative surface, with no memorial left of the bones that slumber beneath —
there was the cemetery, to which the ftmeral procession of the brethren had
so often passed, chanting the solemn dirge — the soul-thrilling " Supplicante
parce Dcus !" Turn we northwards, the way was tracked where the poor
and needy had come to receive the large sums constantly dealt out in alms by
the brethren, or to partake of their hospitality;* and here was the path trod
by the tenants of the abbey and the neighbouring inhabitants, to attend divine
service in all the imposing ritual of the Roman church. From such asso-
ciations, confined to so small a spot of ground, we rush at once unexpectedly,
without the least appearance of the possibility of such a thing, upon a vast
horizon. Over the mainland of Fumess, islands rise out of the deep and the
blue sea to an extent in one direction apparently interminable, — ^in another,
is limited by the faint outline of Lancaster and its castle, across the Bay of
Morecombe ; while between the open sea and the mainland appear several
islets, which with sands, rocks, and mountains, fill up the picture in a difiTerent
direction.
A road prolonged to Hawcoat, which place we found well worthy of a
visit, leads to the Isle of Walney. This island is little more than a bank of
sand and shingle, Ipng diagonally from north-west to south-east, about half a
mile broad where widest, and ten miles long; looking like a huge breakwater
* In an endeavour to levy contributions upon the tenantry of Fumess nearly half a century afler
the devastation of the abbey, John Brograve, who it appears was attorney-general of Lancaster at ihe
time* summoned various witnesses into court to testify as to the usages of the abbey towmrds the
tenantry and others in the vicinity. Tliis evidence is a proof of the hospitality eiereised by the
establishment: — " One deponent, aged 78, said that he had many times seen the tenants resort to lite
monastery on tunning days, sometimes with twenty, at others with thirty horses, and had each delivered
unto every of them firkins or barrels of beer or ate, each containing ten or twelve gallons; and the
same was worth lOd or 1 2d. a barret (4i. of modem money) at that time* A docen loaves of bread
were delivered to every one tliat had a barrel of beer or ale, which bread and beer or ale were
delivered weekly ; and every doien loaves was worth &/• Anotlier deponent had known divers children
of the tenants and their servants to have come from the plough or other work into the said abbey,
where they had dinner or supper; and the children of the said tenants came divers times to the said
abbey, and were suffered to oome to school and learning within the said monastery, litis was con-
firmed by John Richardson, who said there was both a grammar school and a song school in the
monastery, which the children of tlie tenants that paid in provisions were free to come and resort to .
and that he was at the said school : and Richard Banks deposed, that their tenants, their families and
children, did weekly have and receive, at and out of the said monastery, of charity and devotion, over,
and besides the relief and commodities afore rehearsed, to the value of 40<. sterling" (Si, of modern
money).— l^esl't Fumess,
»',
LANCASHIRE. 331
from the mouth of the Duddon river to Morecombe Bay, the north end almost
touching the mainland, but the south receding, and leaving a bay in which
there are several islands. There is much fertile land upon its surface adapted
to the cultivation of grain. The road from Hawcoat, which is not more than
a mile and a half from Fumess Abbey, leads across the sands at low water to
this singular strip of sand, pebble, and earth; and south of this road, but less
than a mile distant, an island called Old Barrow intervenes between Walney
and the main, opposite to what is termed Barrow Head, near which iron ore is
shipped off. Two small insulated portions of land or rock, called Dora Haw and
Old Barrow Ramsay, lie south of the larger island. The other insulated spots are
between Rampside and the southern end of the lale of Walney — such as Roe
Island, Sheep Island, Foulney Island, and the Pile of Foiddrey, with its
ruined castle. All these are surrounded by bare sands at low water. On the
south end of Walney there is a lofty lighthouse, sixty-eight feet high, built
in 1798, which is of the utmost service to vessels entering Morecombe Bay.
The western side of the Isle of Walney is left; dry to a considerable extent
seaward at low water; and the breadths of sand between Walney and the main
and north, at the Duddon mouth, are of great extent, at low water appearing
almost illimitable. There is a village called North Scale upon Walney, con-
sisting of a few cottages, opposite the road over the sands from Hawcoat; and
there is a small plain chapel a little further south on the same side of the
island. Beyond this is Bigger, a hamlet from whence much of the com, which
grows luxuriantly here, is sent by carts to the Ulverston market, twelve miles
distant. All the southern part of Walney, which forms an angle with the
western shore, is barricaded by an immense beach of pebbles, which the pre-
valent winds continually increase. On the western side, the sandy shore
offering less resistance to the sea, we were informed had once or twice
been so overwhelmed by the waves that the inhabitants fully expected the
island would be divided into two parts. We could not help thinking, upon
observing how rich was the appearance of the harvest here, that Dutch enter-
prise, or doggedness, would long ago have secured not only the island, but a
vast deal of land near the northern end for agricultural purposes, which is now
covered with sand or shingle.
There is nothing worthy of observation upon the islets at the south east of
Walney, except on that called the Pile of Fouldrey, upon which are the
picturesque ruins of the castle. These ruins are between two and three miles
over the sands, from that part of the shore of Walney which lies a little to
the south of Bigger. The sands are hard, but wet and fatiguing to walk upon.
The ruin rises from an islet not of the firmest ground. It has a very imposing
appearance at a short distance, and appears to have been an impregnable
post, before the invention of artillery. The ruins of the keep, or dungeon
tower, which was of a square form, are yet standing for a considerable extent
close to the sea, moated and defended by walls garnished with towers, which
33!i EXGLAXn IN THE NINKTEENTH CEXTVRY :
terminate at each end in the sea. There was an outer and inner court, tl
first containing a chapel; and the remains of a gate-house strongly built, st
exist, but the sea haa encroached upon the outworks, and their wrecks a
strewed upon the beach. The masonry is excellent, the construction being
partially of sandstone of the ochrous red, predominant in the neighbour-
hood, and partly of pebbles, united by fluid lime, such as is seen in Rochester
and other castles, where rounded flints are intermingled with the cement,
which time renders as hard as the flint itself. This castle was built by one of
the abbots of Furnoss, in 1327, to protect the harbour or bay within, and as a
place of retreat in case of any hostile attack upon that part of the coast to
which the situation of the abbey, far from any aid on the land side, was
exposed, as well as to the inroads of the Scotch; a vast number of whom sub-
sisted by marauding and robbing upon the English frontier, and to whom the
sacred character of the place would have been no obstacle to the attainment of
the booty it contained.
We were informed here that the wells in the Island of Walney ebb and
flow with the tide, yet the water in them is perfectly fresh, rendered so
no doubt by filtration; the water begins to rise at half-flood tide, and ebb
tide begins some time before the water reaches its highest level. Return-
ing now to the mainland, and getting into the road from Fumess to Ramp-
side, passing near Barrow, a little port on the sea shore, we went on to
the former village, at the distance of about five miles from Fumesa Abbey.
It is a very pretty little watering-place, at the extreme southern point of
Fumess, over against the Pile of Fouldrey and the lighthouse upon Walney
Island. Retired, exceedingly cheap, plain, with good accommodations, and
noble sands open to the full influence of the western breezes, every thing
recommends this place to lovers of seclusion, and excellent sea-bathing-
Except butcher's meat, the cheapness of the necessaries of hfe is unequalled
in a place to be reached now in little more than twelve hours travelling froi^
London. Butcher's meat, even in Furness, is generally sevenpence and
upwards a pound, owing to the cattle being driven off to the manufacturing
LANCASHIRE. 333
districts of the south. Rampside has good inns for all but those visitors of
a class more affected than wise, whose absence in places more analogous to
their habits may well be dispensed with, than where nature, retirement, pure
air, and moderate prices, attract the more rational class of idlers. There is a
natural basin here, half full when the tide recedes, which offers excellent
still- water bathing; and there is also a chapel of ease, a plain unpretending
edifice. Rampside should be visited for the sake of the most extensive and
delightful land and sea view that can well be imagined — ocean, islands and
mountains, all coming into the picture, either near or in the extreme distance,
and embracing a most extended field of sight, with Walney and its intervening
islets in the foreground.
Proceeding northwards, the small parish of Aldingham comes first along
the shore, bounded on the east by Morecombe Bay. The church appears to
be an ancient fabric; it is low, with narrow windows and whitewashed. A
curious place of defence called Gleaston Castle, is situated in this parish, con-
sisting of one external wall enclosing a large square area having the remains
of towers at the angles, the walls about 280 feet long. As there are no
remains of a keep or main tower within, and the apartments which are still
to be traced within the towers along the walls had fireplaces, it was probably
only a post to which the lord and his tenants fled in case of invasion, or to seek
a temporary shelter against the Scotch. The residence of the lord of the
manor of Aldingham, named " the Hall," no longer exists; the site is
supposed to have been near the sea. Aldingham itself is a small and unim-
portant village, XJrswick borders Aldingham on the north and west; and here
some of the manorial customs are curious, " a tenant convicted of perjury,
forfeits twenty years' rent to the lord," and ten years' rent for a larceny.
Bardsea, where the passengers land who come by steam from Fleetwood
over Morecombe Bay, affords excellent iron ore ; much ore is exported, and
it is very pleasantly situated. The church of XJrswick is near the water,
and is adorned with a tower containing a bell presented by the lord of
Aldingham and his lady, Mai'garet, three hundred and fifty years ago.
There is some carving in the stone on the base of the steeple, representing
human figures, not easy to be made out. Bardsea is more than two miles
from XJrswick village, and about the same distance from XJlverston, the
beautifrd grounds of Conishead Priory, in XJlverston parish, intervening;
having on the west the parish of Pennington, and north west, Bardsea Park,
belonging to the owner of Conishead. Swart Moor, a spot of some historical
renown, lies just where the parishes of Pennington, XJlverston, and XJrswick
form a junction on the right of the road from Dalton to the former town.
This moor or common was the place where, in the year 1486, Martin Swart,
a German officer, entrusted by the Duchess of Burgundy with the command
of a body of troops destined to support Lambert Simnel, encamped after
their landing; and here they were joined by Su- Thomas Broughton, of
834 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
Broughton Tower, and their British confederates. On the verge of this
common is Swart Moor Hall, once the residence of Judge Fell, who with his
wife became converts to the doctrines of George Fox. Eleven years after the
death of the judge, his widow married Fox, and continued to reside here
until her death, in 1702, surviving Fox eleven years. Swart Moor Hall is
now occupied by a farmer. Not long ago the bed of George Fox was shewn,
and the study in which he meditated, but the whole place is in a state of decay.
The site must have been, though retired, agreeable enough, and a desirable
residence in the age when it was inhabited by Fox.
Ulverston, the capital town of Furness, stands not quite a mile from the
sands of Levcn, an inlet of Morecombe Bay. It is a neat little town, having
a chartered market granted in the reign of Edward I. The parish is large,
comprising 82,640 acres, and extends from Coniston on the north to Urswick
on the south, about nineteen miles; bordered eastward by Coniston Lake
and its outlet the river Crake as far as the Lcven Sands, and westward by
Kirkby Ireleth. This parish abounds in scenes of romantic beauty and
imposing grandeur, and possesses some spots of savage wildness. Here too,
not far from the town of Ulverston on the shore of the bay, is Conishead
Priory, a modem building erected upon the site of an ancient religious
house which early felt the vengeance of Henry VIII., being seized upon
and dismantled in the twenty-seventh year of the monarch's reign. The
present edifice is the seat of the Braddyl family, one of the most ancient
and respectable in the county; it is extensive, and built in that modem
gothic style which intermingles imitations of fortified houses with ecclesiastical
architecture and modem ideas of convenience, and therefore exceedingly
difficult to characterize. The situation is very beautiful, in fact it may
compete in this respect with any other in the kingdom, and has been called
the second Mount Edgcumbc; but to that celebrated spot it has little resem-
blance, except in blending together the beauties of sea and land. At
Conishead the grounds are more level, and the more distant scenery is finer;
while that which is nearest, both land and water, dififers altogether in character.
At high tide this lovely spot is, beyond idea, attractive; but when the tide
is out much of the attraction is missing, for which the substitution of the sands
ill compensates.
The church of Ulverston, subsequently represented, built in the reign of
Henry VIII., has been repaired within the last twenty years, and perhaps
somewhat altered in external appearance. It is a handsome edifice, and
consists of three aisles, chancel, nave, and an ancient tower; in the east end
is a fine window of stained glass. It is supposed to have been dedicated
originally to St. Mary.
There is a second church in the town, dedicated to the Holy Trinity.
This parish boasts the first place of worship erected by the Quaker sect and
its founder, George Fox, in 1688. There is a Catholic chapel, and several
others belonging to dissenters, in the tovm or parish, which contain together
no less than sixteen charitable endowments. The market of Ulverston
is held on Thursday, and five annual fairs are held there ; the buildings.
exclusive of bye-streets, arc arranged in four main lines, called Market,
Queen, Duke, and King streets. There is a considerable coasting trade
carried on by the canal from the sea. The parish of Ulverston is divided
into four townships, and five chapelries; the first including Ulverston,
Suberthwaite, Mansriggs, and Osmotherly ; the second, Egton with Newland,
Lowick, Torver, Church Couiston, and Blawith.
Coulton parish, to the west of the middle part of that of Coniston,
contains some fine scenery about the southern end of Coniston Lake, especially
when viewed from round Nibthwaite. The rivers Crake and Leven, which
form by their estuary the Leven Sands, also flow through the parish. The
church is a plain edifice situated on a considerable elevation, bare and
exposed. The townships arc East and West Coulton, Nibthwaite, Rusland,
Finsthwaite, and Haverthwaite, but the larger part of the parish is waste land.
Upon reaching the shore near Ulverston, about a mile distant from that
town, the sand stretched in an immense plain before us, appearing boundless
to Beaward, but on the east bordered by the promontory of the parish of
Cartmel, which, darker than the ridges nearer and immediately behind it, lay
more strongly contrasted with the faint outline of the land, yet further off,
veiled in grey, which shot out and vanished in the lino of the horizon, or
in the dimness of the prolongation, forming the far shores of Morecombe Bay
on the south east. The sands left by the ebb tide were covered with small
inequalities, the effect of the retiring waves, and were so comminuted that
they had the appearance of mud as we first entered upon them, only that they
were more consolidated, and were softer nearer the starting place than they
afterwards proved. A solitary horseman had preceded us, for the guide
336 EXOr.AND IN THE yiNETERNTH f'ENTURY :
or " carter," as he is termed, was in advance a considerable distance close to
the verge of the main fresh- water stream, which at the recession of the tide
forms its own channel, and finding no banks to confine its waters, diminishes
proportionably in depth as it gains in lateral extent, being nowhere deeper than
the axletrees of a carriage. This stream contained the united waters of the
Leven and Crake rivers, the outlets of Windermere and Coniston lakes. Our
coachman drove on towards the spot where the carter was stationed, following
the track of the horses' feet that had preceded us, the rider of which we saw in
conversation with the guide about a mile distant. On we went rolling over
the firm level; had we been on horseback, we might have fancied ourselves
just entering upon the Sahara desert, though the refreshing coolness of the
one must have been exchanged for the torrid atmosphere of the other. These
sands are considered more dangerous than those of Lancaster, from the main
streams continually changing and sometimes deepening their channel. We
soon came up to the guide, who had found no obstacle to our crossing, and
going a short distance with us he took his leave, and turned back again to the
main stream. We crossed another small branch, probably of the main river,
only a few inches in depth; and then proceeding about three miles from the
place where we entered upon the sands, and passing Holker Hall on the
left hand, crossing a stream that flowed down from the shore, not far from
the grounds of the mansion, we once more found ourselves on a turnpike road
lending across the peninsula towards Kent's Bank, where we were to enter
upon the larger or Lancaster sands on our way to Hest Bank.
In crossing the Leven Sands, we passed a small island on the right,
called Chapel Island, a portion of rock rising above the sand, upon which
there was anciently an oratory or chapel. The most striking impression in
crossing the Leven Sands is produced by the charm of the scenery, which is
exceedingly varied, picturesque, and remai'kable to the stranger, for the
contrasts of light and shade continually shifting along an extended horizon,
as the clouds float over the landscape or the sea comes rolling along in white
ridges of foam over those measureless sands. Some way onwards, upon
turning round towards the Ulverston shore, the sight is irresistibly taken
with the view of Conishead and its beautifrd grounds, while its woods and
rich turf repose in the happiest order of nature's master taste. Further along
the same shore southwards, we find Bardsea, and though distant, the south-
east end of the Isle of Walney and the intermediate islets may be perceived,
among them the Pile of Fouldrey. Northwards up the Leven estuary, afliuent
in emerald verdure, dark with woods rising over woods, and studded here
and there with rocky crags, the scenery is equally attractive, presenting objects
of interest, round to where the mountains border the lakes of Coniston and
AVindermere, forming a fine background, while more to the eastward, the
opposite shore is diversified with naked or wood-crowned capes, that jut out
boldly, though not of great elevation, to where they terminate on the south
LANCASHIRE. dS7
by that beyond Flookborough. Here Holker Hall and its grounds form
conspicuous objects.
We had by this time crossed the Cartmel peninsula^ through Flook-
borough and Lower Allithwaite to Kent's Bank^ a distance of three miles.
Here we found an inn, at which we stopped a short time, and then descended
upon the Lancaster Sands, which presented a vast shining level> marked here
and there, where streams intersected it, by lines of brighter light. The guide,
or carter, resides at Kent's Bank, but he had preceded us on the route, and
we had only to follow the tracks of those who were a-head of us until we
came up with him. When the monasteries were destroyed by Henry VIII.
the guides were left to shift for themselves, and travellers to take their
chance of perishing, but for the Duchy of Lancaster becoming awake to the
importance of the office, and subsequently burdening itself with the payment
of these men. There are two guides between Kent's Bank and Hest, one
for the channel of the Kent and Winster, the other for the Keer. The head
guide, named James Carter, appointed in 1828, pays the subordinate officer
for the Keer. It would appear that this office had long been held by the
same feimily, from the word Carter being synonymous with guide. We found
these sands firmer than those of the Leven; but they have varied at different
times in the track safe for travellers, sometimes being only eight, at others
eleven miles over. Far before us, dwindled to points in the perspective,
were travellers who had preceded us on foot or horseback, a line of mere
dots in each other's trail ; and beyond, but faintly defined, were the heights
about Lancaster and Heysham, melting into the remoter deep. On the left
as we proceeded the view was fine, but more extended than that of the Leven,
the objects diminished from remoteness were less impressive, but imparted an
idea of the grandeur of prolonged space; indeed, the vastness of the field of
view supplanted every other feeling. Mountains were diminished by the
breadth of the foreground, which, occupying almost the whole attention, made
the distant land seem little more than a narrow border to a picture of an
immense surface. As we approached the first channel we found it marked
by sticks driven into the sand indicating our route. The guide, well mounted,
preceded us; a plain civil kind of a man, coarsely but warmly clad, to whom
it seemed customary to give a fee. The breadth of the first stream was con-
siderable, but the depth did not exceed the height of the horse's girths, and
we afterwards crossed four or five other channels, still pursuing the tracks
of those who had preceded us, and become specks towards the horizon. We
met several persons from Hest Bank, some on foot; now and then we came
near a flock of sea birds that had alighted upon the sands, and suffered us
to approach them within pistol shot, then skimming away on their white
wings to no great distance again alighted. The islands of Furness, and the
whole shore in that direction, rose darkly out of the ground, and the sea
looked long away, detected by its blueness in contrast with the light yellowish
X X
2S8 ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
shore. Far lines of land, from Coulton towards Cockerham and Fleet-
wood, rose irregularly above the monotonous level of water or sand beneath,
some faintly marked upon the heaven, others nearer, about Lancaster, were
well defined. We passed Lindeth on the left, when about half way over,
imagining how terrible must be the feelings of one pursued by the tide, who
runs towards the far land in vain, and exhausted falls, the waves rolling
over him for ever, or who rides at his utmost speed through the ascending
flood tide until horse and rider are engulfed. A Mr. Bainbridge lost his
way over those sands in a fog in 1766, and was remarkably preserved, wan-
dering about, he knew not whither, until the tide surrounded him. The
horse died from exhaustion in the efforts of his rider to escape, who floated
for five hours upon the dead animal, motionless from cold, until he was fomid
by two lads in a boat belonging to a sloop at anchor some distance away, who
towed him and the dead animal to their vessel, hoisted him in, and finding
signs of life ultimately resuscitated him. The depth of water is from sixteen
to seventeen feet at high and spring tides on these sands, over which vessels
of considerable burden may then sail in perfect security.
As we drew near the Lancaster shore, the scenery to the north west put
on a very interesting appearance, the summits of the mountains being finely
broken, and the different distances blending their gradations of hue as they
fell into the distance with beautiftd and graceftd effect. We crossed the last
channel belonging to a stream that flowed down from the parish of Warton,
and soon after ascending a steep declivity, found we were on Hest Bank, four
or five imles from the good town of Lancaster, at which we arrived soon after-
wards, and took up our quarters for the night at an inn situated in the market-
place, called the Royal Oak, from whence we started by railway the next
morning for London, achieving the whole distance, two hundred and forty
miles, in a single day's journey.
LANCASHIRE.
STATISTICAL RELATIONS OF LANCASHIRE.
DUCHY AND OFFICES, PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION, BOROUGHS.
BOROUGH BOUNDARIES, HONORS, PEERS, BARONETS, OLD FAMILIES.
GRAMMAR SCHOOLS. MILITIA, LAND-TAX AND RENTAL. ECCLESIASTI-
CAL BENEFICES, POOR LAW UNIONS, AND POPULATION, FOR 1841.
The name of Lancashire does not occur in Doomsday Survey ; that part of the county between
the Ribble and the Mersey being then attached to Cheshire, and the northern portiou to York*
shire. Roger de Poictou, who came over with William the Conqueror, was the first possessor of the
barony, holding direct from the crown. In the Doomsday Book the present county contained above
230 manors. Under Roger de Poictou were the inferior barons : the first of whom were Godfred
Viscount Derby, Yardfred of Widness, Villers of Warrington, Grelle of Manchester, Burin of Roch-
dale, Lacy of Clithero, Banister of Newton, Bushel of Penwortham, Fleming of Glaston, Moiltbegon of
Hornby, Marshal of Cartmel, De Lancaster and De Furnes of Ulverston, William de Lancaster of
Nether Wyresdale, and Walter, but according to others Pincerna, of Weeton. The founder of the
Barony of Lancaster was John de Taillebois. Roger de Poictou forfeited his possessions, but they -
were restored to him by William Rufus, again forfeited in the second of Henry I., and vested in the •
crown until bestowed on Ranulf de Bricasard, the third Earl of Chester. In the ISth of Henry III.,
Ranulf de Blundeville, his descendant, had all his lands confirmed to him; and on his death in 1252,
his possessions were shared by his four sisters, coheiresses, three of whom married the Earls of Hunt-
ingdon, Albini of Arundel, and Ferrers of Derby: the descendant of the last was deprived of all
his estetes in 1265, which were bestowed by Henry III. on Edmund Crouchback his youngest son,
who was the first Earl of Lancaster. Edward was succeeded by his son Thomas, who was beheaded at
Pontefract. His brother Henry in 1326 reversed the attainder of Thomas, and was the next Earl of
Lancaster, who had a son of his own name* advanced by Edward III. Ibr his bravery, to the title of
Earl of Derby, before he became Earl of Lancaster, and afterwards advanced to be the first Duke. A
power was granted him to have a Court of Chancery in his dukedom, and all the regalities df a county
palatine were conferred upon it, though not coextensively with the dukedom, which last extended into
other counties. The Duke died of the plague in 1361, and was succeeded by John of Gaunt, Earl
of Richmond, who married his daughter Blanch. John of Gaunt in the 2d Richard II. established a
treasury in the duchy, and in the Idih year of the reign of the same monarch obtained a fasther con-
firmation of the privileges of the duchy : he died in 1399, and his estates went to bis son, Henry of
Bolingbroke, who had been created Duke of Hereford, and who afterwards dethroned Richard 11. He
fixed the dukedom on his eldest son, with a distinct character ; privileges over the ecclesiastical bene-
fices too were to be bestowed by Henry Prince of Wales, and his heirs for ever, and in default of heirs
his second son was to inherit. Henry V. confirmed the acts of his predecessor. Henry VI. mortgaged
the revenues for five years to pay his debte. Edward IV. confirmed the preceding charters, and
Henry VII. extended them. Henry VIII. impaired the possessions, but they were restored to their
original extent by Philip and Mary. In Elisabeth's reign, the revenue appears to have produced
14,000^ a-year, from which the fees and various expenses were to be deducted ; the present revenue,
owing to sales and leases made under the four Stuarts, is only about 20,000/. per annum. Thence to
the time of Charles II., except the addition of a court of Star Chamber attached to the duchy, for the
same bad objecta as that at Westminster, the only alteration was the abolition of the arbitrary privileges
of wards and liveries, remnants of feudal barbarity.
Tbe Duchy records are scattered in various public depositories. The ofiScers of the Duchy, ai% a
chancellor, attorney-general, king's sergeant, two councillors, a receiver-general, and auditor ; with
clerks of the council, and of court, surveyors of lands and woods, an usher and messenger. There
are receivers of rents in Lancashire, Yorkshire, and NotU, Leicester and Northampton, Staffbrd,
Monmouth, Essex, Hertford, and Derby. The ofiSces of the County Palatine consist of a chancellor,
vice-chancellor, secretary, attorney-general, constable of Lancaster Castle, registrar, etc; seal keeper,
five cursitors and clerks in chancery, an acting cursitor, prothonotary, deputy, clerk of the crown,
two clerks of the peace, and a messenger. There is in this county a court of common pleas^ and there
are petty courts similar to those held in several other counties.
The six hundreds comprising the county enumerated before, are all fees of the Duchy (^$ee note p. I ).'
II ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
The number of parishes is 68, and of the townships 464 ; and of these, exclusive of borough.*, towns,
suburbsi and villages, 48 contain above 2000 souls ; they differ much in extent of surface* For par-
liamentary prupoaes the county is divided into the Northern and Southern divisions : the Koriltem^
comprehending the hundreds of Lonsdale, Amounderncss, Leyland, and Blackburn ; place of Election,
Lancaster. Polling places. — Lancaster, Hawkeshead, Ulvcrston, Poulton, Preston, and Bromley.
SoiUhem Division. — This comprises the hundreds of Salford and West Derby. Polling places. — Newton,
Wigan, Manchester, Liverpool, Ormskirk, and Rochdale; place of Electum, at liewton. The number
of boroughs returning members is seven : viz., Manchester^ at the passing the Reform Bill eontaining
10/. houses, 12,723 ; comprising the townships of Manchester, 'ChorUon-upon-Medlock, Ardwick,
Beswick, Hulme, Chetham, Bradford, Newion, and Harpurhey. Borougbrcere and eoostablcs,
returning oflScers.
Liverpool, — Old constituency of freemen ; 10/. houses, 17,4*i7 : borough limit, from the western
extremity of Dingle-lane to Ullet-lane, along the last to Lodge-lane, and thence until the Isat meets
Smithdown-lane, along this to the boundary of Wavertreet and by that until it comes neareM to the
south eastern corner of the New Botanic Garden, thence along the east wall of the garden to £dge>laiie.
and so eastward for seventy-four yards, and thence in a line parallel to Grove-street as fares the London
road, and onward until joined by Dean-street, thence straight to the boundary stone io Rake-lane,
near the south end of Whitfield-lane, and along the boundary of Evcrton, until it joins that of Kirk-
dale, and olong the latter to the high-water mark of the Mersey, until it comes nearest to the point first
described, and thence to this point Mayor and two bailiffs, returning oiBoera.
lAmcaster, — Electors, old freemen ; 10/. houses, 658 : limit, from the point on the Lune, where the
bounds of Lancaster, Skerton, and Ueaion with Oxcliffe meet, westward along the Lancaster boundarjf
to those of Bulk and Quernmore; thence in a line to the aqueduct over the Caton-road, thence north-
ward by the eanal from Preston to Kendal to the fourth bridj^e from the aqueduct, then to where
Bracken -lane meets Scale-lane, and along this last until it reaches the Lune^ and froln thence to the
point first described. The mayor and two bailiffs, returning officers.
Preston, — Electors, old constituency, pot wallers; 10/. houses, 1277 : limit, old borough of Preston
and township of Fisherwick. Mayor and bailiffa^ returning officers.
BoUon^U' Moors, — A new borough under the Reform Act; 10/. houses, 1612: limit, Great and
Little Bolton and Haulgh, except a small part of lattle Bolton lying north of the town. Borough-
reeves of Great and Little Bolton, returning officers.
Wigan, — Electors, old constituency of burgesses ; 10/. houses, 568 : limit, the townsliip of Wigan.
Mayor and two bailiffs, returning officers.
Clitherp, — Electors, old constituency, tenants for life pr in fee of certain bouses or lands; 10/.
houses, 359 : it comprises the chapelries of Downhara and Clithero, and the townships of Whalley,
Wiswall, Pendleton and Henshorn, Little Mitton and Calcoats. Two bailiffs, returning officers.
£lackbum,^^'Sew borough under the Reform Act ; 10/. houses, 623 : limit, the township of Black-
burn. Returning officer, appointed by the sheriff of the county.
Oldham, — ^New borough under the Reform Act; 10/. houses, 1128 : limit, the townships of Oldham,
Chadderton, Crompton, and Royton. Returning officer, appointed by the county sheriff.
Salford, — New borough under the Reform Act ; 10/. houses, 1244 : limit, from the northernmost
point where the boundary of Salford meets that of Broughton, along that boundary until it meeu thai
of Pendleton, westward along that until it meets the boundary of a detached portion of Pendlebury,
southward along this boundary until it meets that of Salford, thence to the point first described. The
boroughreeve, returning officer.
Jskton-under-Line. — New borough under the Reform Act ; 10/. houses, 610 : limit, the district
over which the Lightipg and Paving Act of the 7 & 8 George IV. at present extends. The mayor,
returning officer.
j9ui^.-;New borough under the Reform Act ; 10/. houses, 765 : limit, from a boundary stone in
Starling, marking that of Elton and Ainsworth, along the lane from Starling to Walshaw-lane, to a
boundary stone in the latter hamlet marking the boundary of Elton and Tottington Lower End, thence
east along the boundary of Elton until it meets Woodhill Brook, thence straight to where Pigs Lea
Brook falls into the Irwell, thence eastward along the boundary of Bury until it meets that of Elton,
and thence westward along this last boundary to the point first described. Returning officer, to be
appointed by the sheriff.
£ochdale, — New borough under the Reform Act; 10/. houses, 1014: limit, defined in the lOlst
section of a Lighting and Paving Act of 6 George IV. Returning officer, to be appointed by the
sheriff.
LANCASHIRE. HI
ff^arritigtoHt new borough appointed under the Reform Act; 10/. houses, 973: limit, the townships
of Warrington and Latchford, and two detached portions of Thelwall lying between the boundary of
Latchford and the Mersey. Returning officer, to be appointed by the sheriflT.
The toul number of Members returned is twenty-six: viz. — by the county, four; two each for
Liverpool, Manchester, Lancaster, Preston, Bolton, Wigan, Blackburn, Oldham ; and one each for
Salford, Bury, Clithero» Rochdale, Ashton, and Warrington. The number of borough electors is
about 40,000 ; of those for the county, about 26,000.
The market towns, including the above^ are thirty-five: namely — Ormskirk, Chorley, Burnley,
Newton, Garstang, Prescot, Kirkham, Uiverston, Middleton, Dalton-in-Furness, Cartmal, Hawkes-
head, Broughton-in-Furneas, Poulton, Stal'ey bridge, Colne, Haslingden, Hornby, Leigh, St. Helens,
and Todmorden.
The county contains the honors of Clithero, including eighty townships, Hornby with nine, and
West Derby fifty; also three superior manors, namely, those of Newton in Macrefield, eyftnding over
eighteen townships, Penworth over thirty-four, and Garsiang over eleven. There are also the liber-
ties of Furness, which contain thirty- five townships, and of Prescot limited to that township only.
The ancient nobility of Lancashire were nearly extinguished in the wars of the Roses. In the
peerage of the county, tlie Earls of Derby alone can claim a standing of more than 200 years. The
nobility, in the modern acceptation of the word, are —
Derby, Earl of, Edward Smith Sunley, of Knowsley Park ; the family being called to Parliament
in 14S5, in the person of Sir Thomas Stanley, as Lord Stanley.
Sefton, Earl o^ William Philip Motyneuz, Viscount Moiineuz in Ireland, and Baron Sefton of
Crozteth in England, whose ancestor, Sir Richard Molyneux, was summoned to the Irish House of
Peers in 1628, as Viscount Molyneux of Maryborough. Charles William, the ninth Viscount, was
advanced to the dignity of Ear) of Sefton in England in 1771.
Balcarret, Earl of, James Lindsay, Baron Wigan of Haigh Hall, who obtained the Barony of
Wigan by patent in 1826, but the family is Scotch. Sir David Lindsay of Balcarres, being elevated
to the peerage as Lord Lindsay of Balcarres in 1633, and his son to the Earldom of Balcarres,
Skelmendate^ Wilbraham Bootle, Baron of, who obtained his peerage by patent dated 1828.
The above are the only noblemen resident in the county having Lancastrian titles. The Duke of
Manchester, Lords Stamford and Warrington, Liverpool, Lonsdale, Byron, Ribblesdale, and Bury,
take titles from the county. The Lords Wilton, Burlington, Francis Egerton, and the Marquis
of Salisbury, have seats in the county, and reside, but do not take their tides; and the Dukes of
Hamilton and Buocleugh, Lords Howe, Muncaster, and Camoys, possess estates, but have no seats ;
while the Earls of Bradford, Ducie, and Lords Suffield, De Tabley, Petre, Powys, Lilford, and
Kenyon, have seats, but are not residents.
The baronets of Lancashire not extinct, or merged in peerages, *t^ —
Sh Henry Philip Hog/Uon, of Hoghton Tower, whose ancestor, Sir Alexander, was made a knight-
banneret in the 22d Edward IV. Date of baronetcy, May 22, 161 1.
Sir John Gerard, of Bryn; date of baronetcy. May 22, 1611.
Sir FoHer CunliJ^, of Liverpool ; date of baronetcy, March 26, 1759.
Sir Tkomat Hedcelh Fleetwood, of Ruffbrd Hall; date of baronetcy, May 15, 1761.
S!tr Robert CUyton, of Adlington Hall; date of baronetcy, May 3, 1774.
fiiir Oawald Mottey, of AncoaU; date of baronetcy, March 24, 1781.
Sir Henry Onslow, of Altham; date of baronetcy, Oct. SO, 1797.
S&r RobeH HoU Leigh, of Whitley; dale of baronetcy, May 22, 1815.
Sir Joaepk Birch, of Hasels ; date of baronetcy, September 17, 1821.
The aboTe baronetcies are brought down to the creations of 1832. The baronetcies now extinct,
bestowed during the same period, are Ralph Ashton, of Lever; Edward Stanley, of Bicker-
staff^; Edward Mosley, of Ancoats; Robert Bindlosse, of Borwick ; George Middleton, of Leighton ;
John Preston, of the Manor in Furness; Thomas Prestwich, of Holme; A. Bridgman, of Great
Lever; Ralph Ashton, of Middleton; Thomas Clifton, of Clifton; Edward Moore, of Moorehall;
Richard Standish, of Standish; Francis Anderton, of Lostoke; Roger Bradshaigh, of Haigh;
William Horton, of Chadderton ; Oswald Moseley, of Rolleston.
The ancient families of thb county are numerous. In 1673 they amounted, from a manuscript
then published, to above 500. The principal names thus given are— Abraham, Adlington, Allen,
Ambrose, four Andertoos, Appleton, Ashaw, Ashfield, Ashurst, Aspden, fifteen Ashtons, Astley, four
Atliertons, Aughton, two Aynesworths; Balderstone, two Bamfords, five Banisters, Banks, Barcroft,
iv ENGLAND IN THE NiKETEENTH CENTURY:
Bardwy, Barlow, Barnes, four Bartons, Beaconshaw, Beck, Beeonsall, Bel field, Bellingham, Billing,
Bindloss, three Birch, Birkit, Birtwistie,Bisphain,two Blackbome, three Blundellp Bold, three Booth,
Bootle, Botteswell, Brabine, Brache, Braddill, two Bradleys, Bradshaigh, five Bradsbawa, Bratter-
hough, Breares, BreUrghe, Bridgeman, two Brockholes, Brook, Brotherton, Brougbton, two Brownes,
Buckley, Bushell, four Butlers, Butterworth, Byrom. three Byroroe, Byron; CaWert, Causfield,
Cams, Case, three Catlieralls, Chaddockc^ two Cbadwick, two Chamock, two Cbatterton, two Cheet-
ham, two Chetham, Childway, Chisnall, three Chorley, five Clayton, CHflflon, CHtherowe, Cole,
Cooper, Crofts, Crombache, Crompton, two Croas, Cudworth, two Culcheth, Cunliile , two Dalton,
Daoielt Deane, Denton, Dewhirst, Dickenson, Ditchfield, Ditton, Dodding, Downes, Duck infield,
Duzbury, Dynely; Eaton, two Eocleston, Egerton, £lston, Eltonhead, Entwistle, Eyres; four
Farrington, Faulconberg, three Fasakerley, two Fitton, five Fleetwood, Fleming, Forth, Foxcroft,
French, FyfiTe; Garside, six Gerard, three Gillibrand, Girles, Girlington, Goodlowe, Gonacfa,
Greenakers, two Greenhalgh, Gregory, Gresley, Greston, Grlmshaw; Habergham» Hacking, Halsall,
Halsted, three Harringtons, Harrison, Hartley, two Hawardens, two Haworths, Haye, Hayton,
Helme, seven Hesketh, Heyricke, Heysham, three Hilton, Hodgkinson, Hoghton, two Holcroft,
two Holden, five Holland, Holme, four Holts, Hopwood, Hothersall, five Hogbton, Huddlcstone,
Hulme, Hulton, Hurlston, Hutton, two Hydes, Hyndley; I nee, two Irelands; Johnson; Kenion,
Kenyon, Kighly, four Kirkby, Kitchen, Knipe, two Kuerden ; Lacy, two Lancaster, Langford, two
Jjangley, four Langton, Langtrce, four Lathomcs, Laurence, Lea, six Leigh, Lemmon, three
Lever, Leyland, Lightboon, Linch, two Livesey, Longuevillers, Longworth, Lovel, Lowde, Lowe;
Maghull, two Markland, Ms^on. two Massey, Maudsley, Meadowcroft, Meales, Melson, Melton,
Mercer, Mereland, Merton, Middieton, Minshull, Mitton, eleven Molyneux, Montbegon, Moore Or
More, Morecroft, two Morley, two Morts, two Moseleys, Mosley, Mossoake, Mowbrick ; Nelson,
Netby, Neville, Newsoroe, two Newtons, three Norris, Nowell, Nuthall, Nutthall; two Ogle, two
Oldham, Ormeston, Ormrode, two Orrill, two Osbaldiston ; Parker (Lord Morley and Montesgle),
lour Parkers, Parr, Patten, Penketh, Pemberton, Pennington, Pigot, two Pilkington, two Plessingtoo,
Porter, three Preston, Prestwich, Pudsey ; eight RadcliflTs, RatclifT, Rawlington, Rawstoroe, Ueddith,
Redman, Ridge, five Rigby, Rigmaden, Riley, five Rithton, Risley, Rixton, Robinson; Salbury,
Sale, Samlesbury, Sandford, Sandys, Sankey, Sawrey, Scaresbreck, Sclater, Scillyeom, Scolefield,
Shaekerley, two Sharpies, Sharrock, five Spaw, six Sherborne, Sherrington, six Sbutileworth, three
Singleton, Slater, Smith, Smyth, Sorovold, Southworth, Spencer, three Sundishes, Stanley (Earl of
Derby), eight Stanleys, four Starkeys, Sirangeways, Sutton ; three Talbot, two Tetlow, Tidsley, two
Tildsleys, Tong, Torbeck, eight Townley, Townleys, two TrafTord, Travers, two TunsUll, Turton ;
Valentine, Veale ; Urnston, Ursewick ; Wadsworth, two Wall, four Walmsley, Walton, Warburton,
Walinough, West, three Westby, Whittacre, Whittingham, Wilbraham, two Winckley, Winsunley,
Wood, Woodward, Woolfall, Woolful, Woolton, two Worsley, four Worthington, Wrigbtington.
The larger proportion of the above list of the olden gentry of Lancashire resided, and some still reside^
at seats or halls bearing their own names, except where more than one occur of the same appellation,
where it is to be presumed, yrben connected, that the elder branch held the family estate. The fol-
lowing names are given, without their residences, in the document to which reference has been made :
Apleisdon, Arrowsmith, Arbrech ; Ball, Bayne, Bellowe, Bewick, Bethone, Bolton, Bosone, Brindle-
shaw, Brongh, Bushoppe; Chantrell, Curwen, Dansey, Delamere, Delafield, Dennets; Englisli, Fiu-
warren, Fitzwilliams, Forward, Frickleton ; Garnet, Gentel, Gowen, Goldsworth, Greenham, Grassam;
Halliwell, Hawksted, Haydock, Heyton, Hodgson; Ipress, Ireball ; Kendal, Keswick, Kirstow;
Linacres, Linsey ; Magnyll, Mildmore, Morris, Mouthall ; Norvans, North, Norwood ; Ormesby i
Peaford, Peyton, Pickering, Plumpton. Prent; Ransford, Rawshorne; Sands, Sanupe, Scales, Strick-
land ; Tupaler, Thompson, Thornborugh, Th way tea, Tipping, Travers, Twyford ; Verdon ; Weld,
Werdon, Windsore, Wright Of these families there are many extinct, and the old seats and resi-
dences have found strange posseswrs, or have been pulled down. The cotton manufacture has raised
those, before obscure, to opulence, and planted a new race in the dwellings of many who were once
renowned in the county. These changes are too numerous and fluctuating to permit us to recount
them, did we possess an accurate list; a thing, it is probable, not in existence, and the less to be
regretted, because the acquirement of land from the profits of trade will neither confer feudal riglits
nor place the owner in the circumstances of the gentry of past ages, whose powers were superseded by
just and wholesome laws, and whose names are matter of interest, principally, from being attached to
the history of the county.
LoRP-LituTE!f4NT Of Tui CouNTT.-— 7*Atf Eurl of Derbff, Edward Smith Stanley, Baron Stanle/i
pf Knowsley Park.
LANCASHIRE.
COMMISSION OF THE PEACE.
The Lords and others of Her
Majesty's Most Honourable
PriTy Council
Earl of Wemyss and March ■
Earl of Balcarres
Earl of Harrington
Earl Fitswiniam
Earl of Sefkon
Earl of Burlington
Bishop of Chester
Lord Kenyon
Lord Lilford
Lord Teignmouth
Lord Skelmersdale
The Hon. R. Bootle Wilbraham
Sir Edward Hall Alderson, Knt.
Sir John Gurney, Knt.
Sir John Patteson, Knt*
Sir John Williams, Knt.
Sir John Taylor Coleridge, Knt.
Sir Thomas Coltman, Knt.
Sir William Henry Maule, Knt.
Sir Robert Monsey Rolfe, Knt.
Sir Henry Bold Hoghton, Bart.
Sir John Gerard, Bart.
Sir Richard Brooke, Bart.
Sir T. Dalrymple Hesketb, Bart.
Sir Oswald Mosley, Bart.
Sir Robert Holt Leigh, Bart.
Sir T. Bernard Birch, Bart.
Sir Benjamin Heywood, Bart.
Sir P. Heskelh Fleetwood, Bart.
The Hon. James Yorke Scarlett
Sir Thomas Wilde, Knt.
Sir Frederick Pollock, Knt.
Sir John Cross, Knt.
Sir Salusbury Devonport, Knt.
Sir Thomas Brancker. Kut.
Sir Thomas Poiter, Knt.
Sir Joshua Walmsley, Knt.
David Francis Atcherley, Esq.
Joseph Acton, Esq
Thomas Batly Addison, Esq.
Montague Ainslie, Esq.
Peter A ins worth, Esq.
Richard Edward Alison, Esq.
Richard Alison, jun. Esq.
William Ince Anderton, Esq.
Robert Andrews, Esq.
Charles Dickson Archibald, Esq.
John Armstrong, Esq.
Samuel Ashton, Esq.
Thomas Aohton, Esq.
George Asiiworth, Esq.
Henry Ashworth, Esq.
James Aspinall, Esq.
John Aspinall, Esq.
J. T. Walshman Aspinall, Esq.
Joseph Aspinall, Esq.
William Assheton, Esq.
William Astley, Esq.
W. Waltham Atkinson, Esq.
Philip Abbot, Clerk
James Alison, Esq.
Elkanah Arroitage, £sq.
Richard Ash ton, Esq.
Lieut.- Col. John Austen
T. Brockhurst BarcUiy, Esq.
James Roth well Barnes, Esq.
William Gillison Bell, E!>q.
John Bentley, Esq.
Reece Bevan, Esq.
Thomas Birkbeck, Esq.
William Birley, E^q.
John Ireland Blackburne, Esq.
James Blanchard, Esq.
William Blundell, Esq.
R. B. B. H. Blundell, Esq.
John Bolden, Esq.
William Bolden Bolden, Esq.
Cornelius Bourne, Esq.
Peter Bourne, Esq.
T. R. Gale Braddyll, Esq.
£. S. B. R. G. Braddyll, Esq.
Robert Greene Bradley, Esq^
James Brancker, Esq.
Samuel Bright, Esq.
Daniel Broaidhurst, Esq.
William Brocklehurst, Esq.
T. Fitsherbert Brockholes, Esq.
Joseph Brotherton, Esq. M.P.
John Browne, Esq.
Abel Buckley, Esq.
John Buckley, Esq.
James Buckley, Esq.
Joseph Bushell, Esq.
Gardnor Baldwin, Clerk
R. Shuttleworth Barton, Clerk
John Shepherd Birley. Clerk
Thomas Blackburne, Clerk
Jonathan Brooks, Clerk
William Briggs, Esq.
William Boiling, E^q.
John Bradshaw, Esq.
Henry Butterworth, Esq.
John Bond, Esq. ^
Juhn Bairstow, Esq.
William Henry Buulton, Clerk
Thomas Bonsor Crompton, Esq.
William Calrow, Esq.
James Bulcock Carr, Esq.
Robert Lindow Carr, Esq.
Thomas Case, Esq.
Charles Chadwick, Esq.
William Chadwick, Esq.
John Cheetham, Esq.
Chisenhale Chisenhale, Esq.
Hyde Juhn Clarke, Esq.
James Clarke, Esq.
R. Clayton Browne Clayton, Esq.
Edward Every Clayton, Esq.
William Clayton, Esq.
Thomas Clifton, Esq.
Thomas Butler Cole, Esq.
Juhn Nicholas Colthurst, Esq.
Thomas Cooke, Esq.
Henry Critchley, Esq.
Thomas Bright Crosse, Esq.
John Crossly, Esq.
John Cunlitfe, Esq.
George Chetwode, Clerk
John Cocker, Esq.
Abraham Clegg, Esq.
Joseph Crosfield, Esq.
Elias Chadwick, Esq.
George Clarke, Esq.
George Herbert Coiton, Clerk
William Dakin, Esq.
Charles James Darbishire, Esq.
Thomas Darwell, Esq.
Edward Dawson, Esq.
James Dawson, Esq.
John Dodson, Esq.
John Drink water, Esq.
Thomas Drinkwater, Esq.
John Dohie, Clerk
Thomas Flower Ellis, Esq.
William Earic, Esq.
Richard Earle, Esq.
John Earnshaw, Esq.
Thomas Eastwood, Esq.
John Edmondson, E«q.
Kichard Edwards, Esq.
Pattison Ellames, Esq.
John Smith Entwistle, Esq.
Joseph Christopher Ewart, Esq.
Joseph S. R. Evans, Clerk
Colonel Charles Richard Fox
Edward Deane Falkner, Esq.
Oliver Farrer, Esq.
James William Farrer, E<;q.
James N. Ffaringlon, Esq.
Henry H. Fazakerly, Esq.
John Fen ton, Esq.
Joseph Feilden, Esq.
John Feilden, Esq.
Montague J. Feilden, Esq.
John Fletcher, Esq.
Samuel Fletcher, Esq.
John Fitzgerald, Esq.
John Fletcher, Esq.
Abraham Rawlinson Ford, Esq.
John Formby, Esq.
John Frederick Foster, Esq.
James Faulds, Esq.
Thomas R. W. France, Esq.
John Hutton Fisher, Clerk
Miles Formby, Clerk
William Gaie, Esq.
Jeremiah Garuett, Esq.
William Garnett, Esq.
William Gerard, Esq.
Juhn Gladstone, Esq.
Thomas Mee Gorst, Esq.
John Greaves, Esq.
Juhn Green, Esq., M.D.
James Greenalgh, Esq.
Ralph Greenough, Esq.
Thomas Greene, Esq.
Peter Greenall, Esq.
John Greenall, E«q.
John Grundy, jun., Esq.
Robert Gardner, Esq.
Henry John Gunning, Clerk
John Greg, Esq.
John Grimshaw, Esq.
Edmund Grundy, Esq
Charles R. Graham, Clerk
William Grey, Clerk
Francis Ludlow Holt, Esq.
William Hulton, Esq.
John Hall, Esq.
William Hall, Esq.
Alexander F. Haliburton, Esq.
James Hamerton, Esq.
Henry Hardman, Esq.
William Hargreaves, Esq.
John Harden, Esq.
Reginald Hargreaves, Esq.
Benson Harrison, Esq.
David Harrison, Esq.
Henry Harrison, Esq.
Jonah Harrop, Esq.
VI
ENOLAM) IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
James Collyer Harter, Esq.
Robert Ellison Harvey, Enq.
Samuel Holker Haslam, Esq.
James Heald, Esq.
Richard EdensorHeathcote.Esq.
Benjamin Heapet Esq.
John Speir Heron, Esq.
Robert B. L. Hesketh, £>q.
l*homas Henry Hesketh, Esq.
John Heys, Esq.
Francis Hey wood, Esq.
James Hey wood, Esq.
John P. Hey wood, Esq.
Robert Hey wood, Esq.
James Hey worth, Esq
Lawrence Hey worth, £sq.
Elijah Hihbert, Esq.
John Fowden Hendle, Esq.
Charles Hindley, Etq.
Adam Hodgson, Esq.
John Fowden Hodgfon, Esq.
Robert Holltiigworth. £»q.
John Holmes, E»q.
John Halt, Esq.
Richard Orford Holte, Esq.
Robert Gregge Hop wood, Esq.
Kdround Hornby, Esq.
Edmund George Hornby, Esq.
Htigh Hornby, Esq.
Phipps Hornby, E^q.
Robert Hornby, Ckrk
William Henry Hornby. E»^q.
James John Hornby, Clerk
Samuel Horrocks, Esq.
Chsries HorsfHll, Esq.
John Howard. Esq.
Michael Hughes, Esq.
William Ford Hulton, Esq.
James Hutchinson, Esq.
John Holme, Clerk
John Hop wood. Clerk
James Hordern, Clerk
Joshua Thomas Horton, Clerk
George Jjcson, Esq.
Paul Moon James, Esq.
Joseph Jones, Esq.
Francis Jordan, Esq.
James Jowctt, Esq.
Jnmes Kay, Esq.
John Hodson Kearsley, K$q.
Henry Kelsall, Esq.
John Kennedy, Esq.
John Ken worthy, Esq.
James Kershaw, Esq.
Edward Bolton King, Esq.
Thomas John Knowivs, I'^q.
Charles £. Kendall, Clerk
Chailcs Lawrence, Esq.
Henry Charles Lacey, Esq.
Aaron Lees, Esq.
John Lees, £8q.
Samuel Lees, Esq.
John Frederick Lees, Esq.
Joseph Leese, Esq.
Thomas Legh, Esq.
James Heath Leigh, Esq.
Richard l^yland, Esq.
John Lister, Esq.
Edward J. Lloyd, Esq.
James Loch, Esq.
John Lomai, Esq.
Robert Lomax, Esq.
James Ijord, Esq.
Thomas Lyon. Esq.
' Peter L^gh, Clerk
, James Penny Machell, Esq.
- John Penny Machell, Esq.
William Marshall, I'lsq.
James Garth Marshall, Esq.
Henry Marsland. Esq.
Peter Edward Maisland, Esq.
George Marton, £sq.
John Master, Esq.
Daniel Maude, Esq.
riiomas Holme Maude, Esq.
Thomas Marsland, Esq.
Jonathan Mellor, E>q.
T.Yeaies Parker Micliaelson, Enq.
John Moore, jim. Esq.
Williitin Moore, Esq.
John Moss, Esq.
John Murray, Esq.
Thomas Mack ret h. Clerk
Anthony Marsden, Cleik,
John Whalley Master, Clerk
Thomas Sturgess Mills, Cleik
Richard Moore, Cleik
Thomas Moss, Clerk
William Neild, Esq.
George William New Ion, Esq.
James Newton, Esq.
Samuel Newton, Esq.
Richard Newsham, jun. Esq.
li. Josias Jackson Norrcys, Esq.
Richard Foulmin North, Emj.
Alexander Nowell, Esq.
John Ormerod, Esq.
Charles Orrell, Esq.
Ralph Onsey, Esq.
James Openshaw, Esq.
Hugh Parker, Esq.
Jdhn Parker, Esq.
Robert Townley Parker, Esq.
Thomas Parr, Esq.
John Wilson Patten, Esq.
James Pedder, Esq.
Sir Ralph Pendlebury, Knt.
Henry Petre, Esq.
James Piikington, Esq.
Mark Philips Esq.
Shakespeare Philips, Esq.
James Potter, E^q.
James Pownall, Esq.
William Parker, Clerk
T. Woolman Rathlxme, Esq.
William Rathbone, Esq.
Christopher Rawdon, Esq.
Benjamin Rawson, Esq.
Christopher Rawson, E^q.
Thomas Rawson, Esq.
Lawrence Rawstorne, Esq.
Reginald Rennington, Esq.
Joseph Ridgway, Esq.
Joseph Ridgway, jun. Esq.
Nicholas Robinson, Esq.
Gray Rigge, Esq.
Thomas Rodick, Esq.
Clement Royds, Esq.
Robert Atherton Rawstorne, Clerk
Samuel Sandbach, Esq.
T. Bromily W. Sanderson, Esq.
Myles Sandys, Esq.
J. Cornelius Satterthwaitc, Esq.
Joiin Saurey, Esq.
Andrew Schofield, Esq.
Thomas Molyneuz Seel, E«q.
Chiistopher Shaw, Esq.
Henry Shaw, Esq.
William Sidebottom, Esq.
Edward Lowe Sidebotluim, £sq.
James Simpson, Esq.
John Slack, Esq.
John Benjamin Smith, Esq.
Charles Siandish, Esq.
William Standish Standish. Em].
George John Serjeantson, Esq.
Samuel Staniforih, Esq.
Edward Sunley, Esq.
Le Gendre N. Stark ie, Esq.
Thomas Starkie, Esq.
James Starky, Esq.
John Stout, Esq.
William Stubs, E^.
William Sutcliffe, Esq.
Edward Edge Sy I Tester, £<«q.
Charles Tayleur, Esq.
James Taylor, Esq.
John Taylor, Esq.
Robert Taylor, Esq.
Samuel Taylor, Esq.
Henry Tempest, Esq.
John Plumbe Tempest, Esq.
T. R. Plumbe Tempest, Esq.
Ralph Thicknesse, Esq.
James Thomson, Esq.
Giles Thornber, Esq.
Jonathan Thornhill, Esq.
Thomas Thornley, Esq.
Peregrine E. Towncley, Esq.
Charles Towneley, Esq.
William Townley, Esq.
Sir T. Joseph TrafTord, Bart.
Traiford TrafTord, Esq.
John Turner, Esq.
William Turner, Esq.
William Thursby, Clerk
Charles J. Stanley Walker, Esq.
Joseph Walker, Esq.
I Ricluu-d Walker, Esq.
• William Gerrard Walmsley, Esq.
, James Hibbcrt Wanklyn, Esq.
I George Walmsley, Esq.
' Thomas Watts, Esq.
John Weld. Esq.
George Weld, Esq.
Robert Henry Welsh, Esq.
Charles Whitaker, Esq.
James Whitaker, Esq.
Thomas Hordern Wbiuker, Es<{.
George Williams, Esq.
Christopher Wilson, Esq.
George Wilson, Esq.
Matthew Wilson, Esq.
Matthew Wilson, jun. Esq.
William Wilson C. Wilson, E^q.
William Winstanley, Esq. M.D.
William Winstanley jun. Esq.
Abraham Wood, Esq.
George William Wood, Esq.
William Hew son Wood, Esq.
John Woodcock, Esq,
John Wright, Esq.
William Wright, Esq.
Joseph Brooks Yates, Esq.
LANCASHIRE. Vll
Militia. — The quota of militia for Lancashire as fixed by the 43 George IIL, is 2439 men,
divided into three regiments: namely, the 1st, 2iid, and Sd, or Prince Regenfsown Iloyal Lancashire;
commanded respectively by Colonels P. Tempest, Lord Sunley, and Sir T. D. H. Fleetwood.
Land-tax and Rental. — Lancashire paid two parts out of the 518, constituting the land-tax. The
average rental of land in 1815 was 21s. 8d. per acre. The annual value assessed to the property -tax
under' Schedule A., was 3,139,013/. ; under D., 2,292,080/. The rental, according to the property-Ux,
1,270,344/. The return of land and assessed taxes in 1829, was 184,583/. The amount of parochial
assessments in 18S0, was 413,530/.; with 202 select vestries, and 231 assistant overseers. In 1837
the toUl was 335,734/.; and in 1838, 332.326/.
Endowxd Grammar Scuools. — The Endowed Grammar Schools of this county are numerous.
That of BurnUy^ in the parish of Whalley, was founded, it is supposed, about the time of Edward
VI. Out of a messuage 3/. was granted to it in 1578, by Sir R. Ingham, for ever. A farm at
AWerthorpe in Yorkshire, by some one now unknown ; a tenement, called Ackerley*s Tenement, in
1696, and that of Cockridge 1699, both from the Townley family ; and there are other bequests. Tlie
classics and various branches of learning are taught to about fifty scholars.
Blackburn. — The Free Grammar School here was founded by Queen Elisabeth, and receives the
sum of 4/« 7s. 4d. annually out of the land revenues. This school is "free to the world." The
master's salary is 90/. There is a small entrance fee.
Black ROD. — There is an exhibition of about 70/. per annum to a Free Grammar School here, of
which no account has been made public.
Bolton-lk- Moors. — A Free Grammar School here was founded by Robert Lever. His will,
dated March 1641, devised lands for the purpose, to be under the superintendence of governors, who
were to appoint masters; the head-master's salary to be 80/., and the usher's 40/., annually.
Burt. — There is a Free Grammar School here, salary 200/1 % year, with perquisites.
Cartmel.— Here there is a Free School, where both the classics and other branches of learning are
taught. The salary and perquisites are, rent of land, 150/. ; interest of money, 2/. ; « cockpence" —
a peculiar compliment paid to the. master at Shrovetide — ^from 20/. to 30/. The master takes pupils
besides. Dr. Law, Bishop of Carlisle^ was educated here.
CuoRLBY. — Here is a Grammar and General School, with 10/. 15s. of benefactions. The master
charges for education; the scholars are from seventy to eighty.
CLnBERO. — The Free Grammar School here was founded by Philip and Mary, and is endowed
with the lands and tithes of Almondbury in Yorkshire; managed by six governors, and visited by the
Bishop of Chester. The master, who takes pupils besides, has 200/. per annum, the usher 100/.
Farmwoeth in Widness. — Inhere is a Free Grammar School here, founded by William Smythe,
Bishop of Linc6ln, in 1507. Matthew Smyth, Principal of Brazen nose College, W. Smyth, of
Barton in Clay, and H. Ogle, LL.B., were benefactors; and about 45L per annum besides, from
different individuab, belong to this school, to support two scholars at Brazennose College, Oxford.
Hawksmbad. — The Free Grammar School here was founded in 1585, by Sandys Archbishop of
York. The school is free, but about 4/. 4a. is charged for teaching the classics, as entrance money, and
'<cockpennies;" and for writing and arithmetic eight or ten shillings per quarter more. The salary
is 160/.; 50/. to an usher, to be paid out of it, and the school buildings to be kept in repair.
Lancastkr.— The founder of the Free Grammar School here is unknown. It was revived from a
state of decay in 1683, by the Bishop of Durham and the Corporation. A school was built to conuin
120 boys, in two stories; on one of which writing and arithmetic are taught, and on the other the
classics. There is a small library attached. The Corporation pay the master 70/. per annum, the
usher has 54/. The sons 'of freemen pay nothing for education, but the "cock penny" at Shrovetide;
those of non. freemen pay 7s. 6d. a quarter under the second master, and 10s. 6d. under the first, with
5s. entrance. There are several perquisites. The writing-master has 20/. per annum, and charges fur
teaching writing and arithmetic besides.
Lbtland.— There is a small Grammar School here, endowed with 3/. 17s, lOd. granted by Queen
Elizabeth out of the revenue of the Duchy of Lancaster.
Liverpool. — There is an endowment o{ 10/. 13^. 3d. for a Free Grammar School here, payable out
of the land revenues of the Crown.
MAMCHEBTXR.~Tbe Free Grammar School of Manchester was founded by Hugh Oldham, Bishop
of Exeter, in the 16ih year of the reign of Henry VIII. In 1524, certain mills in Manchester and
Ancoats were conveyed to twelve trustees for the use of this school, by Hugh Bexwyke and his wife,
accompanied with accurate directions as to the inUnt of the benefactions and conduct of the school.
Vlll ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
The mills were three in number. There is also the sum of 4/. Is. 9d. payable to the master out of the
Duchy rents. Tliis school has eleven eihibitions in the UuiTersities ; the building is roomy and con*
venient, and is divided into the upper and lover rooms; in the last of which the rudiments of English
and Latin are taught, to prepare for the upper school. Sarah, Duchess of Somerset* who died in
1692, was a great benefactor to this seminary, as was William Hulmeof Broadatone, who died in 1691 •
The salary of the head master is 420/. with a house kept in repair and free of taxes. He receives
boarders. There is a second master at 220/., and three assistant masters. Several distinguislied
characters have been educated at this school.
MiDPLSTON. — There is a Free Grammar School here, founded in 1572« by Alexander Nowell, D.D.
Queen Elizabeth endowed it with 20/. per annum, lliis school is one of the few schools which is reslly
free — free of expense to all the boys of the parisli, as far as the classics are concerned. Six shillings s
quarter is the only charge which is made, for writing. The curates of Middleton have been commonly
the masters; of whom Richard Dean was one, known m» the author of*' The Future Life of Brutes."
Some scholarships at Brazennose belonging to this school, are so small that they have not been eUimed
for a century past.
Prescot. — The School here was established at a time now unknown, and was aupported by rstes
from the township, which having ceased, the whole endowment was worth only about 40/. per annum.
It was swelled by subsequent legacies to 1 13/. The free boys are educated only in reading, writingi
and arithmetic The master takes boarders and day scholars.
PaESTON.— The Grammar School here is supposed to have been founded by the corporation. The
head master receives hlOL per annum, paid by the corporation, including ground-renta, producing SOL
a year. The head master has 40/. as a salary, from the corporation. A library of several tb o uss n d
volumes is attached to this school.
RiviNGTON has a Free Grammar School, founded by James Pilkington, Bishop of Durham, in 1566,
and endowed by him with land to the value of 90/. per annum. It is a school open to all, free of
expense, but a preference is given to six townships in the vicinity. The master receives a sslsry of
100/. per annum, with a house, and the usher and writing-master receive 50/. each. This school ii
vested in the hands of six trustees.
RocuDAiB Grammar School was founded by Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1565. The
salary is small, but there is quarterage and entrance- money paid.
WuALLSY has a Free Grammar School, founded by Edward VI.. endowed with IS/. 6s. 8d., and free
for the classics to all the boys of the parish. The salary is from 70 to 80/^ the master takes pupils.
WioAN Free Grammar School is of unknown foundation. James Leigh, in 1616, gave to it sn
annual rent of 6/. 13s. 4d.; and it received oilier legacies, which are vested in trustees or governors.
The salary is ISO/., and boarders are taken. The scholars are restricted to eighty in number.
WiNwicK. — Here there is a Free School, founded by Gwalter Legh, and endowed with KX- p^
annum ; to which, in 161S, Sir Peter Legh added 14/. ; Lord Lilford and others contribute, it i>
opeu to the hoys of the town and parish of Winwick, as a classical school ; boarders are taken by the
master. There is an English school at Newton, endowed with 50/. per annum, of which the Legh
family are the patrons.
General Sb/ioo/s.— The number of these must continually vary, so as to render a perfect register
thereof impossible. Mr. Butter worth, in his valuable Summary of Lancashire Statistics, giv^
for 1834, as endowed day •schools, 248, of which fifty were endowed with above 60/. per annum ; infant
schools 140; Sunday 996, and common day-schools 2776. Of the day schools 1298, and of thesundsy
175, were in Liverpool, Manchester, and Salford. In 1837 there were 49^ per cent, of factory boys of
the age of twelve and thirteen who could not read, and 67 who could not write. Of girls, there vers
57 per cent, who could not read, and 88 who could not write.
PtuUic CkarUies.— The income of these for all purposes iu 1837, was 35,726/., about a moiety
being for purposes connected with education.
Newipapen, — The newspapers published in Lancashire, are — at Liverpool ; lAverpool TiiMh Gere'
Advertiter, the Courier, Mercury^ Mercantile Gazette, Albion, Chronicle, Standard, Journal^ and MoiL
At Manchester — the Chronicle, Guardian, Courier, Timet, and Adoertiaer, At Lancaster — the Gextl^
and Guardian, At Preston — the Chronicle, Pilot, and Advertiser. At Blackburn — the GasieUe and
Standard. At Bolton— the Chronicle and Free Preu; and at Wigan— the Gazelle, Of these, the
oldest is the Liverpool Times, once the Advertiser,
LANCASHIRE. IX
Crihe — Sfsions — Prisons. — Besides the as<iizes at Lancaster and Liverpool, three special sessions
are held regularly in the year, and a fourth intermediately at Salford for the hundred of Saiford:
namely, at Lancaster for Lonsdale hundred; at Preston for the hundreds of Amounderness, Blackburn,
and Leyland ; and at Liverpool for West Derby hundred. There are four borough sessions quarterly,
at Liverpool, Manchester, Wigan, and Bolton-le-Moors ; and the magistrates hold petty sessions at
thirty-three places. The county prisons are at Lancaster, Preston, and Kirkdale by Liverpool. The
average of committals in 1805 was 871 ; in 1822-3 it amounted to 1334 ; in 1831 it had reached 1 in
569 of the population ; and in 1837 was 1 in 476. The costs of the prosecution of felons alone averages
annually about 16,880/.; and that of the prisons and the whole county expenditure generally is, on
an average of 21 years, 82,090/. per annum. There is the expense of the lunatic asylum and the
repair of some of the county bridges included in the foregoing sum. In 1839 a county police was
established for such parts of the county as were not included in towns or districts specially governed :
the cost was 30,606/. Ss. The General Quarter Sessions are held the first week after October II, ttie
first after December 20, the first after the 31 st of March, and the first after the 24th of June. The
Chancery of the duchy is held at Westminster ; the Chancery of the county at Lancaster and Preston
four times a-year. The Court of Common Pleas for the county palatine at Lancaster and Liverpool
every assize. The County Court for the recovery of small debts is held monthly at Preston, Liverpool,
and Manchester.
CouTity Expenditure — The average yearly charges in the expenditure of the county, for a period of
twenty-one years, from the year ending June 1820, to the year ending June 1840, have been as
follows, according to an article published in the '* Manchester Guardian,** No. 1245 : — costs of prose-
cutions of felons at sessions and assizer, average yearly, nearly 16,880/. ; conducting offenders to prison,
3777/. ; payments on account of militia, 200/. ; maintenance of prisoners in Lancaster Castle, 2788/. ;
repairs and improvements of Lancaster Castle, 1494/. ; passing vagrants, Scotch and Irish poor,
2121/.: coroners, for taking inquisitions, nearly 2043/.; corn inspectors, in 1820- 1-2, 40/.; law
expenses, 1061/.; conveying arms and accoutrements, about 97/.; King's Bench and Marshalsea, 55/. ;
))rinting and stationery, 79/.; inspectors of weights and measures, nearly 816/.; maintenance of
criminal and vagrant lunatics, nearly 999/. ; salaries of oflScers of Lancaster Castle, high constables,
and county treasurer, 2798/.; bankers* charges, nearly 200/.; contingent expenses, 1412/.; private
lunatic asylum, 39/. ; total expenditure by the county treasurer for twenty-one years, 771,077/. 19s. Sjd.,
or a yearly average of nearly 36,718/. The averages of other items of expenditure for the above
period have been, Preston house of correction, about 4650/; Salford or New Bailey prison, 9798/. ;
Kirkdale and Liverpool prisons, 7094/. ; enlarging, etc of Kirkdale prison, 5830/. ; county bridges,
1269/. ; compensation for damage by riots, 829/. ; salary of chairman of Salford sessions, 821/. ;
lunatic asylum, exclusive of criminal and vagrant lunatics, 5266/. ; lunatic asylum building account,
nearly 2223^ ; county consubulary, to June 1840, as are the other items, 6148/. Yearly average
expenditure of the county for twenty-one years, 82.090/. ; or a total expenditure of 1,723,892/. The
expenditure in the year 1820 was 73,142/.; 1825—84,481/.; 1830-86,345/,; 1835—80,109/.;
and in 1840—94,179/.
Coutitt/ OJficen, — The principal public oflScers of the county are, the clerk of the peace, county
treasurer, six coroners, 14 high constables, a superintendent of the lunatic asylum, constable and governor
of Lancaster castle, chief constable of the police, and assistant constables, governors of the prisons, and
seven surveyors of bridges, exclusive of five stewards of hundreds, and eight coroners of boroughs and
liberties.
X ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY I
ECCLESIASTICAL BENEFICES, PERPETUAL
Episcopal Jorisdiction. — This county was formerly included, viib Cheshire, in the diocese of Lichfitfld Covens
and Chester, the bishopric of Lichfield having had that of CuTentry united to it in the reign of Henry I., and CinL
being within its jurisdiction. In 1542, Chester was made a separate bishopric, and the entire county of Lancsstern
comprehended within its limit. Alterations have recently been made, subject to the extinction of existing interesLh
which Lancashire, north of Morecombe Bay, will be annexed to the bishopric of Carlisle, and the whole of Sou(b Ls-
cashire will constitute the bishopric of Manchester, and this last with Lancaster will become archdeaconries. InlM
the ecclesiastical divisions of Lancashire were the archdeaconry of Cestr, and the deaneries of Maintecestr and Blackhsrc
Werington, and Leyland, and the archdeaconry of Richemunde, with the deaneries of Aymundem, Lunesdaler^
Kendal, and Coupland.
Archdeaconries. — These are Chester and Richmond; except the township of Dalton, the parish of Burton is in ^e<^
rooreland. The township of Mitton is in the Yorkshire parish of Mitton, within the archdeaccmry of CrsTen and d;()C!<<
of Ripon, as well as that of Ireby in the parish of Thornton, the rest of which is in Yorkshire. The rirer Ri:'^'^
is considered the boundary of the two archdeaconries, except as respects the parish of Whalley, which is vitbin vi
archdeaconry of Chester. During the year of the triennial visitation, the authority of the diocese of RichnKwdcet^
The archdeacon's visitations comprise eleven places: viz. — Manchester, Blackburn, Bolton ^le-Moors, Wigsn, LiTerpcc
Ormskirk, Chorley, Preston, Lancaster, Garstang, and Ulverston.
DEANERY OF
DIOCESE OF CHESTER.
PAROCHIAL
B£NE:F1CBS.
Ashton-under-Lyne
Bury .
Bolton- le-Moors .
Deane
Eccles
Cross
s 1
Hescrip Ann.
tit«n, ^'«''
Caratrs'
Stipend
1 '
1 1831
m
fi<
•I
R.
R.
V.
V.
V.
INCUMBENTS.
£
1473
'2094
464
213
500i
Flixlon
Middleton .
Manchester Coll. Ch. .
Radcliffe
Prestwich cum Oldham
Rochdale
P.C.
107
R.
1177
• ■
4650
R,
368
R. 1307
V.
1838
£
226
130
80
60
50
190
66 G. Chetwode
157 G. Hornby
— ij. Slade .
R. Girdlestone
\V. Marsden
*M e
m s
200
200
107
625
22
77
108
W. A. B. Cave . 1823
1816
1818
1817
CURATES' NAMES
/J. ITaodforth .\
tC.T. Quirk ./
F. Power
/£• Manby .^
\^H. Richardson /
1830R. Morewood
R. Durnford
Dean' & Chapter
C. N Milne .
T. Blackburn .
rj.E.N.Moles-"\
1^ worth • J
1835
1838
— Wilkinson
f See additional 1
XChurches&Cha./
• • •
G. B. Sandford .
1 ft.iQ / W.N . Molesworth
iwy ^^ Wilson
PATRONS.
BeU'J-6'-
Carl of Stamforti
Earl of Derby .
Bp. of Chester .
Lord Chancellor
Lord Chancellor
fPreb.ofFIiiO
< ton, Lichfield, .•
[S. Madaa .J
Lord Suffield .
Karl of Wilton .
r Marquis of 1
\ Westminster J
(Archbishop of (
I Canterbury
8'! 0'.
73 0^
160 0'
DEANERY
i\):
Altcar
A ughton
Childwall
Halsall
Huyton
Leigh .
North Meols
St. Nicolas 1 J ■ „,^^i
St. Peter j Liverpool .
Oi-roskirk
Prescot
Sefton, or Sephton
Walton
Warrington .
Wigan
Win wick
P.C.
R.
V.
R
V.
V.
R.
• ■
V.
R.
R.&V.
R.
R.
R.
95
758
467
3095
150
265
990
615
615
367
1000
1464
294
125
2823
4220
105
120
150
100
60
61
75
100
100
100
250
180
— jC. C. Forshaw .
82 W. H. Boulton .
12 A Campbell
44 K. Loxham . .
K). Ashton
2
146
107
86
593
604
J. Irvine .
C. Hesketh
J. Brooks .
A. Campbell
J. T. Horlon
C. G.T. DriflSeld
K. R. Rothweli .
T. Moss .
S. Heatbcote .
{
H. Powys .
H. J. Gunning
J. J. Hornby
1826
1834
1824
1816
1813
1839
1835
1829
1829
A. J. Douglas
R. Leigh •
Earl of Stfton
J. P. Tempest
Bp. of Che:»ler
Miss Blundell
Earl of Dei by
fJ.Finlinson • ] , Lord Liiford •
\ M. James .J\
H. Knowles . . P. H. Fleetwood
fT. Halton .*J
"JT.McGill .J
I^G. Ileadlam .J
1818 J. May
1815;G. B. Norman
1803
1816
01
1803
1831
1833
1813
J. Clarke
Ir. Wilson.
/G. Richards .\
\ A. Wallace ./
/C. Bisset .1
^H. B. Jones ./
r. J. Whittington
Cor. of Liverpool,
Earl of Derby
King'sColCamb.
R. R. Rolbweil
J. S. Leigh
Lord Lilford
Earl of Bradford
Earl of Derby
842 10 ^
124 II "
LANCASHIRE.
XI
CURACIES, INCUMBENTS. PATRONS, ETC.
Deancrics. — These are six: namely, Manchester, Warrington, Blackburn, Lcyland, Amounderness and Furness, and
CartmeU. There are two rural deaneries, those of North and South Lancaster, and one peculiar, Kirkby Ireleth, and
three parts of deaneries, Lonsdale, Kendal, and Craven.
Ecclesiastical Courts. — These are, the prerogative court of York, the court of the archdeaconry of Chester and
that of the archdeaconry of Richmond. Probates of wills are granted in the ecclesiastical court of Richmond, but the
originals are deposited at Lancaster, and those within the archdeconry of Richmond are registered there. The wills,
letters of administration, and similar documents, were deposited in the bishop*s registry in Lichfield while Lancashire was
in that diocese, or until 1521. The earliest wills in the rural dean's court, date 1602, and in the commissary's court at
Richmond and Lancaster 1500 j and they extend, with a few chasms (mostly before 1600) to the present time.
Parishes and Livings. — Tlie number of parishes in the county of Lancaster is 68. Of these, 25 are in lay patronage,
19 in ecclesiastical, 8 in the crown, 14 among the nobility, and 2 in the landed proprietary. The perpetual curacies,
principally in the gifts of the incumbents of the parishes in which they lie, will be found subjoined. The livings
in the gift of the crown, as head of the duchy of Lancaster, are 45, situated in various counties; only three of
^vliich, Dal ton -in- Furness, Pennington, and Hawketbead, are in Lancashire. The total number in the county in 1840,
was 403.
MANCHESTER.
ARCHDEACONRY OF CHESTER.
TITHE OWNERS.
Glebe.
Tan. et Valor.
1301 or 1394.
•
Tax. el V
Henry V
■lor.
III.
d.
Sialale
Acres.
Popnla-
lion,
1831.
POST TOWNS.
PAROCHIAL
BENEFICES.
A. R. P.
«£. s. (L
£. t.
• . • •
10
26 13
4
9300
33.597 Aston .
Ashton-under-Lyne
Rector of Bury .
89
13 6 8
29 11
5i
22,600
47,829 Bury .
Bury
• . • •
—
no return.
10 3
n
31,390
63,034 Bolton .
Bolton-le-Moors
Mr. Tempest
no return.
4
19.340
22 944 Bolton
Deane
• • • •
—
20
6 8
20,240
28,083 Manchester .
Itlccles
C. Gale
—
,4 13 4
34
2710
2099
Manchester .
Flixton
• . • *
—
13 6 8
36 3
Hi
11,510
14,379 Manchester .
Middleton
Rector
53 6 8
213 10
11
34,260 290061 Manchester .
Manchester Coll. Church
Rector
49 218
no return.
21
5
2880
3904 Bury .
RadcliflTe
Reclor
116 3 3
18 13 4
46 4
9i
21,160
67,579 Manchester .
Prestwicb cum Oldham
A rchb. of Canterbury .
—
23 6 8
11 4
n
58,620
74,427 Rochdale
Rochdale
WARRINGTON.
Karl of Sel'ton
...
no return.
11 10
3580
505 Ormskirk
A hear
. . •
—
no return.
14 15
5
4410
1462
Ormskirk
Aughton
Bishop of Chester
—
40
5 11
8
14,580
7706
Liverpool
Childwall
. • •
—
10
24 11
H
15,540
4159
Ormskirk
Halsali
Rarl of Sefton
—
10
6 9
9270
3412
Liverpool
Huyton
Impropriators
—
8
9
11,820
20,083
Manchester .
Leigh
Rector
15 3 20
no return.
8 3
4
8450
5132
Ormskirk
North Meols
. • .
—
no return.
—
3960
189242
Liverpool ]
St. Nicolas r • ^,.^^1
St. Peter j^»v«'POol
Earl of Derby
13 6 8
10
31,150
14,051
Ormskirk
Ormskirk
King's Coll. Cambridge
—
40
24 10
34,920
28,084
Prescot
Prescot
. • •
—
26 13 4
30 1
8
11,040
4485
Liverpool
Sefton, or Sephton
^ Vicarage, endowed >
I with Great Tithe '
«
44
J 6 3 4
{ 69 16 10
1 22,250
22,575
Liverpool
Walton
Rector U Warwick Hosp
—
13 6 8
40
12,260
19,155
Warrington .
Warrington
Rector of VVigan .
81 123
33 6 8
80 13
4
27,610
44,486
VVigan
Wigan
Rector
--.
26 13 4
102 9
n
24,660
17.961
Warrington .
Win wick
xu
ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY I
DEANERY OF
DIOCESE OF CHESTER.
PAROCHIAL
BENEFICES.
Blackburn •
Whalley .
Deicrip
tioo.
V.
V.
Gros*
Ann.
Conitet'
Val.
1831.
Siipcud
£
£
918
100
140
—
1 I INCUMBENTS.
25J.W. Wbitlaker
3 R. N. WhitUker
o£ ■
S| CURATES' NAMES.
1823{^;
1839 J. P. Scott
Courteoay A
JaniM .j
PATRONS.
Tithe Cora-
ana La tivna.
Archb. of Canter.
Archb. of Canter. —
DEANERY OF
Croaton
Briodle
Chorley
Eccleston
Leyland
Hoole
Penwortham
Rufford
Standish
Tarleton
Hesketh cum Becconsal P. C.
. R.&V.
1641
. R.
. R.
515
1031
. R.
1010
. V.
400
. R.
276
. P. C.
106
. R.
502
. R.
. P. C.
P. C.
1992
800
275
80
80
300
100
80
100
100
205
80
103
3. Master .
- C. £. Kendall
9 J. W. Master
45VV. Yalea.
101
G. Baldwin
M. Barton
R. A. Rawstone
E. Master
VV. H. Brandreth
118
— S. Master .
S. Master .
1798
1822
1798
1812
1824
1812
1831
fR. W.King .■\
\,M. Twiss ./
— Price
J. S. Matter •
T. Manhall .
R. Tomkina .
1798 W.McG rath
1841 G. Whitlock.
1834 G. M. Drummond
. 1834 E. EUwood .
P. Starkie .^
Mrs. Master .J
D. of Devonshire
J. W. Master .
VV. Yatea .
\V. H. Baldwin
M. Barton
L. Rawstone
{Representative
of I^ SUrkie
Dr. Brandreth .
R. M. Master .
Sir T. B. Hesketh
226 3
497 15
/STO
i^200
5338 5 8
1296 100 .
I
198 00
8 10
^390
140
ARCHDEACONRY OF RICHMOND
Chipping
U.&V.
Garstang
V.
Kirkham
V.
Cockerham .
V .
Bispham
P.C.
Lancaster .
V.
Lytham
P.C.
Poulton
V.
Preston
V.
Ribcliester .
V.
St.Michae]-on
•Wyre
«
V.
102
282
1015
655
100
240
150
275 —
1742
131
257
751
150
783
160
83
120
80
E. Wilkinson
J. Peddei .
94 J. Webber
J. Dodson
B. Williams
33 J. Manby .
R. B. Robinson
J. Hull .
86 J. O. Parr
22
B. T. Hazlewood
H. Hornby
1816
1835
1835
1837
1806
1834
1825
1840
1829
1789
G. Simpson
d(j
s I. H
LJ. fox
fJ. Pedder
1813!<T. H. Dundas.
I
|!i
H. Cardall
Yerburgh
.J
■\
R. Townley .
tiling
Copeman
C W. Hornby " . \
\ G. Nightingale \
C W. Walling
Bishop of Chester
J. Pedder
Christ Ch. Coll.
Oxford .
Ld. of the Manor
Sir P. Fleetwood
O. Martin
J. Clifton .
Sir P. Fleetwood
> Trustees of (
\ M. Hulme . {
Bishop of Chester
H. Hornby
399 10
\
89 10
43
i 147 100
^20
I -
568 8
I
94 O
55 O
36 13 7
124 8 9
145 O
DEANERY OF FtTRNES?
>i
Aldingham
Dalton
Cartmell ,
Coulton
Hawkshead .
Kirkhy Ireleth
Pennington .
Ulverston
Urswick
R.
V.
P. C.
P.C.
V.
V.
V.
P. C.
V.
1183
150
113
84
160
125
141
149!
881
72 I 90 J. Stooard
— I — J. T. Kirkbank .
84 —
76 '-
66 —
T. Remington
R. Robinson
G. Park .
H. R. Walton
C. J. Maxwell
R. Gwillym
2 M. Forrest
1814 T. Ormandby
1823
1834
1834
1834
1841
1838
1835
1841
T. Robinson
E. M. Pickford
The Cbown
D. of Lancaster
EarlofBurlington
The Landowners
D. of Lancaster
Vicar of Dalton
D. of Lancaster
T. R. G. Braddyl
llie Landowners
400 O
1
227 5 8^
21 O
LANCASHIRE.
XUl
BLACKBURN.
ARCHDEACONRY OF CHESTER.
TITHE OWNERS.
Archb* of Canterbury .
S Earl Howe . . )
i Lord Ribblesdale . )
Glebe.
A. R. P.
Tax.
ISOl
et Valor,
or 1204.
of.
s.
d.
33
6
8
66
13
4
Tax. et Valor.
Henry VIII.
£.
5.
d.
8
1
8
6
3
9
Slatate
Acres.
Popula-
tion,
1831.
46.620
108,140
69.791
97,786
POST TOWNS.
Blackburn
VVhalley
PAROCHIAL
BENEFICES.
Blackburn
Whalley
LEYLAND.
AND DEANERY OF AMOUNDERNESS.
Rector
232 16
33 6 8
31 11 0^
17.840
6278
Cliorley
Croston
Rector
• • •
1 Pro. and Scholars"
I King's Coll. Camb. V
J Vicar of Prescot
9 32
no return,
in CrostOD.
12
12 8 4
33 6
28 6
2940
3110
8090
1568
9282
3068
Choi ley
Cborley
Chorley
Brindle
Chorley
Ecclestou
Impropriators •
Vicar
44
ho
11
17,950
13,961
Chorley
Ley land
• . . >
) Impropriator . • )
5 Curate . . 5
—
In Croston.
20
6 14
2600
9630
934
4679
Preston
Preston
Hoole
Penwortham
Rector
—
—
22 13
2840
869
Ormskirk
Rufford
• • •
• • •
Rector
—
13 6 8
In Croston.
Iq Croston.
46 16 8
In Croston.
In Croston.
16,190
7719
2000
630
Wigan
Ormskirk
Ormskirk
Standish
Tarleton
Hesketh cum Beceonsal
Bishop of Chester
Vicar, partly endow, re-
mainder to 'J . S. Standish
Vicar , , . \
Christ Chorch, Oxford 5
:i
Rector of Chorley
Rec. & Vicar of Croston
I Vic. Dukeof Hamil
S ton, and others
Impropriator
"l Miss Bevie& Bacon, f
^ B. Crosse, P. H.<^
J Fleetwood, & Vicar ^
( Sir H. Houghton & (
S Vicar, and others . (
Bishop of Chester .
H. Hornby .
\-
2 2
98 2
12 11 6
11 2 27
173
10 13
40
183 6
22 6
4
8
8
no return.
80
4
66 13 4
66 13
22
66 13
4
4
36 13 4
8990
1850
14 3 4
26,580
9927
21 n
41,860
11,630
10 16 8
10,420
2794
8
3490
1256
41
66,100
22,294
22
5240
1623
7 16 8
16,400
40?2
15 3 Hi
14,230
36,336
39 9 9
7560
4283
10 17
18,330
4708
Ciithero
Garstang
Kirkbam
Lancaster
Blackpool
Lancaster
Preston
Preston
Preston
Blackburn
Garstang
Chipping
Garstang
Kirkham
Cockerham
Bispham
Lancaster
Lytham
Poulton
Preston
Ribchester
St. Michael-on-Wyre
AND CARTMELL.
...
( Earl of Burlington, 7
i Small Tithes Com. 3
Earl of Burlington
Inhabitant Landowners
{Landowners of the )
Parish . . S
5 Dean and Chapter )
( of York . . ]
{ Arabic Professor of >
( Oxford . . 5
T. R. G. Braddyl
The Landowners
53 6 8
18
46 13 4
no return.
with Dalton
6 13 4
6 6 8
12
10 6 8
39 19 2
17 6 8
8 10 2
18 6 8
42
5 6 8
10
28 18
7 17 6
4680
16,210
22,960
13,330
22,220
26,160
•
2840
29,100
4100
884
2697
4802
Ulverston
Ulverston
Cartmcll
1786 Ulverston
2060 Ambleside
3234 Ulverston
355
7741
752
Ulverston
Ulverston
Ulverston
.jAldingham
Dalton
Cartmell
Coulton
Hawkshead
Kiikby Ireleth
Pennington
Ulverston
.lUrswick
XIV
ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
DIOCESE OF CHESTER.
DEANERY OF
PAROCHIAL
BENEFICES.
Descrip-
lion.
Grofi
Ann.
V.l
1831.
£.
192
191
542
551
Coratef'
Stipend.
1
INCUMBENTS.
II
1
1838
1824
1825
1838
CURATES' NAMES.
PATRONS.
1
Titbe Com.
■aalaUoBa.
VVarlon
Bolton-Ie-Sands .
Malton
Heysham
V.
V.
R.
R.
60
£.
5|W. Hutton
22' R.Gibson
63;r. Mackrelh
47 R. S. Barton ,
I
• . •
. • •
J. Beetfaam •
« • •
( D. &Cb. of >
I Worcester . J
Bp. of Chester .
J. Tliompson
T. Y. Ridley .
1
480 i
470 ,
DEANERY OF
Claughton .
Tatham
Whittington
Melimg
runstall •
R.
R.
R.
V.
V.
145
219
483
113
332
75
102
24
68
H. White .
J. M. Wright .
W. C. WiUon .
J. Tatham
H. C. Wilson .
1813— PoftlJewaite
1823 .
1825G. C. Bowles
1794 R. Denny .
1828— Uirlcy .
r. Fenwick
J. Marsden
E. Hornby
Lord Chancellor
M. Wilson
350 U
INCUMBENCIES NOT PAROCHIAL.
In what Parbh.
Detcrip-
tion.
INCUMBENCIES AND
ENDOWMENTS.
II
if
n
Royal
Bounty.
i
>
INCUMBENTS.
PATRONS.
£.
£.
£.
£.
/
' P.C.
Ardwick
—
—
—
294
iV. W. Gibson, 1831 *)
P.C.
Blackley . . . .
—
200
600
140
VV. R. Keeling, 1840 J'Man.CoLChurrL
P.C.
Chorlton . . . .
400
600
...
103
J. Morton, 1836 .1
p. c.
Didsbury • •
400
600
i.^
154
W.J. Kidd, 1841
S. NewmlJ.
p. c.
Gorton . . . .
400
400
~-
150
R. Bassnet, 1831 ."j
C. P. Myddleton,1809 }
W. Hutchinson, 1834 J
p. c.
Ileaton . . . .
800
400
1400
116
Maa.CoI.Cbarrh
P.C.
Newton . . . .
500
200
1000
155
P.C.
Salford. Trinity
—
mmm
—
—
S. Booth •
Sir G. R. Booth
P.C.
P.C.
Stretiord
Hulme • . . .
230
600
800
150
236
R. Esdale, 1819 .\
J. Lingard. 1828 ,J
Man.Col.Cburcl)
p. c.
(>heetham
—
—
—
— .
H. Ethelston
Rev. W Ethelston
P.C.
Denton . . . .
400
800
400
135
W.P.Greswell, 1791 .
.Marq.ofWcsrmr.
P.C.
Openshaw •
—
—
—
—
J. Whitley, 1839 .
Bp. of Chester,
and others.
P.C.
Salford, St. Stephen
—
—
—
145
E. Booth, 1805
Heirs of Rev.
W. Check.
P.C.
Salford, Christ Church
—
—
—
i—
ir.Stowell
Manchester (
P.C.
P.C.
Salford, St. Philip .
St. Paul
—
—
—
410
293
0. Sergeant, 1825 .)
J. Piccope, 1822 .J
Man.Col.Chnrch
P.C.
St. James
—
—
—
158
J. Hollist, 1818 .
Mrs. Piccope.
p. c.
St Judas
—
—
—
— .
M. O'Uary
P.C.
St Michael .
—
—
—
72
CD. Jackson, 1832 |
Heirs of the Rev.'
H. Owen.
P.C.
St Mark.
—
—
—
—
{
Heirs of Rev. E.
Ethelstou.
P.C.
St. Peter
^m^
-.
— .
160
N. Germon, 1825
The Trustees.
p. c.
St George
,m^
.^
.—
220
J. White. 1826 .
Bp. of Chester.
P.C-
All Saints
^^
^_
._»
107
C. Burton, 1820 .
Dr. Burton.
p. c.
P.C.
St Matthew •
St. Andrew
—
—
271
144
T. R. Bentley. 1841 7
G. Dugard, i831 .3
Man.CoL Church
P.C.
All Souls, Aocoats .
^_
_-
__
_^
S. Warren, 1840
p. C. 'St. Clement .
.—
_—
._
m^
T. Owen, 1840
P. C.
Broughtoo
«^
_
.^
_
R. Wood
P.C.
ChorltononMedlockChapel
_
—
_
—
A. Hopwortb
P.C.
Chorlton St. Saviour's
_
— .
— —
E. Birch
P.C.
(larpurhey
_-
—
—
J. Hayes. 1840
R.
St. Anne
— .
—
380
H. W. M'Grath .
Bp. of Chester.
I
R.
St. Mary ,
—
—
166
J. GatcliiF, 1804 .
Man.Col.Churcli
R.
1
St John ....
— —
^—
290
W. Huntington, 1831 .
W. Huntington.
LANCASHIRE.
XV
KENDAL.
ARCHDEACONRY OF CHESTER.
TITHE OWNERS.
IVisliop of Chester
Rector
Rector
Glebe.
A. R. P.
90
Tax. et Valor. Tax. et Valor.
1*291 or l>i94. ; Henry Vlll.
66 13 4
no return.
12
10
£. *. d.
78 15
4 15
20 7i
8 9 2
Statute
Acres.
Popnla-
tioDy
1B81.
10,470
7630
3830
1620
POST TOWNS.
2151 Kirkbam
1781 Lancaster
834 Lancaster
582. Lancaster
PAROCHIAL
BENEFICES.
Warlon
Bolton-Ie- Sands
Hal ton
Heysham
KIRKBY LONSDALE.
V'^icar of Garstang
6 13
6 13
10 13
40
34 13
4
4
4
4
9 13 10
1530
116
12 5
7820
853
13 9 9^
4360
542
7 1 lOJ
21,701
1962
6 13 Hi
8970
662
Lancaster
Lancaster
Kirkby Lonsdale
Kirk by Lonsdale
Kirkby Lonsdale
C laugh ton
Fatbam
Whittington
Melling
runstall
INCUMBENCIES NOT PAROCHIAL — continued.
In what Parislieft.
Descrip-
tion.
INCUMBENCIES AND
ENDOWMENTS.
Private
Beneftciions.
Royal
Boanly.
Parlia-
mentary
Grants.
1
INCUMBENTS.
PATRONS.
£.
£.
£.
£.
^
P.C.
Hey, St John's
200
200
800
131
G.D. Gnindy, 1838.^
J. Hextell, 1831
J. Hutchinson, 1824. f
J. N. Franc, 1822 . J
Ashton-under* J
Line . . .J
P.C
P.C.
Mossley . • . .
St. Petei^s
—
1000
1600
127
137
Rec. of Ash ton.
I
P.C.
Staytey Bridge, St. George
Hollingwood, Chadderton
— .
800
1600
143
f
P.C.
400
800
1900
150
J. Holme
R. of Prestwich.
P.C.
Ringley . . . .
200
200
—
250
J. R. L>on, 1817 . /
Rs.ofPrestBury,
and Middleton
P.C.
Roy ton, St. Paul's .
200
400
1400
150
J. Dobie. 1841 . . ^
Prestwich cam
P.C.
Shaw, Trinity .
400
400
1000
220
D.Brammell, 1841 .
Oldham . .S
P.C.
Stand . . . .
^^
—
__
170
T. Coraer. 1826
P.C.
Unsworth, St. George
200
600
1000
63
H. Birkett, 1804 . . >
R. of Prestwich.
P.C.
Oldham, St Mary .
_
400
1200
191
J. Fallowfield, 1818 .
p. c.
St. Peter, do. .
—
2200
126
VV. Lees. 1838 .
k
P.C.
St. James, do.
—
_
>~
150
W. F. Walker, 1829 ^
P.C.
St. MichePs, Tonge
—
—
—
—
Middleton . .'
P.C.
Ash worth
800
1000
300
119
D. Rathbone. 1832
W. Egerton.
p. c.
Cockev, Ainsworth .
200
600
600
136
R. Heslop, 1836 . . /
H. P. Thomas 1841 . I
Rec. of Middle-
p. c.
Birch' . . . .
— .
..
_-.
48
ton.
1
P.C.
EUenbrook
—
—
.^
137
W. Rigg, 1819 .
Trustees.
Eccles . . .<J
P.C.
S win ton . . . .
„^
_
_
126
R. Bioadley, 1833 . \
W* tf* v^ ■
I
P.C.
Pendleton
...
200
1800
344
A. Lane, 1834 . . /
Vicar of Eccles.
/»
P.C.
St John
600
400
1500
159
H.C.Boutflower, 1834 i
P.C.
t:denfield
400
600
500
117
W. Holt, 1810 . . \
Rector of Bury.
P.C.
Hey wood in Heap .
400
600
1200
196
R. Minnit, 1835 . J
Bury . . ./
P.C.
P.C.
St. Paul's, Heywood
Holcorobe
200
. 800
1000
118
H. Allen, 1841 . \
VV. Holt, 1810. .J
Rector of Bury.
P.C.
Tottington
..^
800
1600
145
E. Verdon, 1834 , "I
P.C.
St. James's, Heap .
...
—
— -
....
H. O'Brien, 1838 . \
Trustees.
'^
p. c.
VValmsley
—
—
—
130
E, J. G. Hornby, 1841 J
/
P.C.
St James
—^
*_
~.
200
VV.J.Farington. 1821 1
P.C.
p. c.
Littleborough .
Todmorden
600
600
800
800
1300
2000
190
134
T. Steele, 1816 .
J. Cowell, 1831 . f
Vic.ofRochdale.
P.C.
Milnrow
400
600
1200
150
F. R. Raines, 1832 J
Rochdale . . /
P.C.
Whitworth
200
600
200
256
R. Parkinson, 1830
Trustees.
P.C.
Dobcross
200
1000
2000
124
T. S. Mills, 1821 . . •>
F. Gardner, 1835
R. Whitelock, 1831 . .
p. c.
Friarmere
— >
800
1600
150
P.C.
Saddleworth .
200
200
1200
150
Vic. of Rochdale.
P.C.
Lydiate . . . .
.^.
1000
2000
130
G. Cowell, 1835 . .
\
P.C.
Hundersfield .
200
2U0
^"~
67
J. W.Inchbold, 1827 J
XVI
ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
INCUMBENCIES NOT PAROCHIAL — con/mw«t
la what Parishes.
Deicrip
(iOD.
INCUMBENCIES AND
ENDOWMENTS.
S
II
5 5?
•
"3
INCUMBENTS.
I
PATRONS.
ft. go
>
1
£.
£.
£.
Rochdale . .<|
P. C.
f Smallbridge, St. John,\
\^ Weardale . .J
—
—
—
R. K. Cook, 1839 . 1
Vic of Rochdale.;
P. C.
Spotland, St. Clement
—^
^_
.^
G. H. Cotton, 1835 .
p. C.
p. C.
VVest Houghton
Horwich . . . .
400
400
600
400
200
149
220
C. Bateson, 1816 . '
D. Hewett, 1826 . .
Vic. of Dean.
Deane . . ..
P.C.
Smithills
._
__
_
_
r. B. Dickson .
P. Ainsworth.
P.O.
Halliwell
__^
^_
—
.^
W.C. Gibbs, 1840
Trustees. i
p. C.
Little Hullton .
800
400
2100
-..
T. Airy, 1834 .
Lord Kenyon.
V.
Farnwortb
.^
_^
90
W. Burns .
Lord Chancel tor.,
/
P.C.
Trinity . . . .
...
...
121
A. Hadfield. 1833
Vic. of Bolton. I
P.C.
George's
—
.—
^^^
168
J. Lyons, 1838 .
Trustees.
P.C.
All Saint's
200
200
2200
128
J.S.Birley, 1834
T. Tipping.
P.C.
Ashley Biidge
i—
.—
—
..
Ken. Frazer
1
P.C.
P.C.
Blackrod
Bradshaw
200
200
200
800
400
100
150
C. J. Snape . . )
B. Dawson . . . >
Vic. of Bolton.
1
BoIton-le-MooK
P.C.
Harwood
._
^
«^
— .
J. Stubbt
P.C.
Christ Church
^__
._
.»
__
T. Berry
P. R. Robin, 1841
P.C.
I^ver, Little .
200
800
1300
99
Vic. of Bolton.
P.C.
Rivington
300
400
200
90
J. Jackson, 1823 .
(nhabitants.
P.C.
Turton . . . .
_-
200
200
155
J. Spencer, 1815 .
L. Grisdate, 1821
G. N. Homre.
I
P.C.
Walrosley
200
800
69
Vic. of Bolton.
. P.C.
Emmanuel
—
— ~
—
150
G. Levy, 1841 .
Bp. of Chester.
f
p. c.
St. John
_
—
-^
115
R. T. Wheeler, 1841 "
A
P.C.
St. Peter
—
—
_-
153
T. Sharpies, 1841 .
1
I
P.C.
St. Paul
___
..
_
67
A. G. Edouart, 1841 .
P.C.
Balderston
400
400
_
90
W. HarUey. 1839 .
J.K.GIazebrook,1841
M. Y. Starkie, 1815 . '
P.C.
Darwen . . . .
_
.«
43
Vicar of Black-
P.C.
Over Darwen .
620
600
.
125
bum. '
P, c.
Over Darwen, Trinity
_
_
._
74
R. M. I4imb, 1839 .
P.C.
Great Harwood
400
400
~-.
150
R. Dobson, 1819. .
1
Blackburn ./
P.C.
Lango • . . .
200
600
600
125
T. Dent . . .
^h^F V ^W^V ^iV W ^BV ^ ^iV V V
P.C.
Mellor . . , ,
^_
. —
..
34
J. M'Gregor, 1840 ._
1
P.C.
Salesbury
400
600
600
118
J. Robinson
p. c.
Samlesbury
600
400
700
150
F. Law, 1832 .
1
P.C.
Took holes
200
800
^_
150
G. Robinson, 1830 .
p. c.
Walton-le-Dale
1400
800
1300
156
R. Hornby, 1837 . . >
Lord de Tabley. '
P.C.
St. Michael's .
.
..
._
— Davies
1
P.C.
Mellor Brook .
__
..
__
W. HarUey, 1832 .
1
P.C.
Witton , , . .
__
— .
,
^_
G. A. H. Ashe, 1839
P.C.
Feniscowles
_^
_
...
«^
r. G. Walsh, 1841
1
I
V.
P.C.
Bamber Bridge
^^
— .
,—
__
W. Wignall
1
/
P.C.
Accrington . •
1000
1000
1000
158
J. Hopwood, 1817
Vic. ofWhalley,!
'
P.C.
Christ Church
..^
.—
_^_
__
M. A. Nicholson, 1841
Trustees.
P.C.
Altham, 10/. annually
^.^
400
800
117
W. Wood, 1823 .
R.T. R. Walton
P.C.
P.C.
Bacup . . . .
Briercliffe
200
1100
1000
145
E. B. Allen, 1839 . \
T. M*Lindon . . \
Vic. of W ballev.
P.C.
Burnley . . . .
400
400
__
770
R. M. Master, 1826 .
R. T. Parker. ;
p. c.
Chatburn
_
__
..^
__
R. Ingram, 1838
Vic. of Whallcy.
P.C.
Church Kirk .
..^
_—
.^
310
J. Birchall, 1840 .
Hulme Trustees.,
P.C.
Clayton . . . .
_
_
_
^M
J. Wood, 1840 .
Trustees.
P.C.
Clithero, 10/. annually .
200
200
1900
150
J. H. Anderton, 1835 .
J. Anderton.
P.C.
Clitbero, St. James
__
^^
.«
_
W. Morgan, 1841
Five Trustees. \
P.C.
Colne . . . .
_
._
„^^
179
J. Henderson, 1821
Vic. of Whalley.i
Whallcy . I
P.C.
Colne, Christ Church
_^
^_
>•—
^^
W. Hodgson, 1837
Five Trustees.
P.C.
Colne, Barrowford .
^.^
•
__
__
Vacant
Vic. of Whallcy.
P.C.
Downham, 10/. annually .
200
400
^^
129
P. Abbott, 1818 .
Hulme Trustees.
P.C.
Fence in Pendle
—
—
—
W. Haworth. 1837 , |
Mrs. E. Gie^D-
wood.
P.C.
Goodshaw
«—
1000
1400
150
W. Hawoith, 1839 . I
T. G. James, 1836 . }
W. Gray, 1815 . J
1
P.C.
Habergham
_
—
—
140
Vic.ofWhalley.;
P.C.
Haslingden
600
400
1600
176
1
P.C.
Heybouses
Holme . . . .
_-
_^
_
Le G. SiarUe.
P.C.
400
1200
101
.F. Langiield, 1840
T. H. Whittaker.
P.C.
Marsden . . . .
.^
—
150
J. Hutchinson, 1814 .
Vicof WhaUey.
\
P.C.
Newchurch, Pendle .
—
^—
—
135
J. Rushton, 1825
Hulme Trustees.
LANCASHIRE.
XVll
INCUMBENCIES NOT FAKOCHl Alr—conlinued,
In what FarlaheB.
Deacrip-
tioo.
PERPBTUAL CURACIES
AND ENDOWMENTS.
Private
BcDefacttona.
•5^
Parlia.
mentary
Grants.
9
-3
>
INCUMBENTS.
PATRONS.
£.
£.
£.
£.
f
P.C.
TNewchurch Rosendale'l
\ 10/. annually . .j
—
800
240
E. BuiTOw, 1833
Vic. of Whalley.
P.C.
OswaldtwisUe
—
—
— .
—^
W. K. Tatam, 1837 .
Five Trustees.
1
P.C,
Padiham
400
200
900
131
S. J. C. AdarosoD, 1823
Le G. Starkie.
Whalley . A
P.C.
Rawtenstall
—
—
—
—
W. Whit worth, 1838 .
H. Hoyle.
P.C.
Tunstead
—
.—
—
...
F. Kirkpatrick, 1841 .
Trustees.
P.C.
Whitewell
400
400
200
88
W. Hodgson, 1838
Vic. of Whalley.
V
P.C.
Worsthom
—
—
—
—
W. Thursby, 1835 . |
Rep. of J. Har-
grayes&R.Bates
P.C.
Ash (on Macrefield .
—
200
1600
181
£. Sibson, 1809
P.C.
Croft . . , .
—
—
^_
i.^
T. P. Kirkman .
Rec. of Winwick
%mr * * 1
P.C.
Lowton . . . .
400
400
_
126
J. Pennington, 1806 . '
VVinwiclt • .
P.C.
Newchurch
._
800
.mm.
101
J. Walker
P.C.
Newton Wargrave .
200
400
600
114
C. Palairet .
T. Leigh.
k
^
P.C.
Downall Green
—
~-
— _
H. H. Sherlock, 1840
P.C.
Ireleth . . . .
—
800
— i.
H, N. Walton, 1841 . \
DalioQ in Fur-<
ness . . .
7-
P.C.
P.C.
Rampside
Walney . . . .
•—
800
600
1400
75
94
W. Dawson, 1838 . 1
T.M.Postlethwaite, f
1839 . .J
Vic. of Dalton.
P.C.
St George
—
—
—
118
B. Powell, 1822
P.C.
Abrams . . . .
—
._
__
64
J. J. Dixon, 1839 .
P.C.
Billinge . . . .
200
200
1000
234
J. Bromilow, 1834 .
VVigan . . .(
P.C.
P.C.
Haigh . . . .
Hindley . . . .
400
200
300
94
148
J. T. Browne, 1839 .
E.Hill, 1830 . .f
Rec. of Wigan.
P.C.
Holland . . . .
200
400
1400
165
J. Bird, 1821 .
P.C.
Pemberton •
i—
—
_- .
150
J. Paley, 1832 .
V
P.C.
Scholes . . . .
~-
_
_
W. Coombs . . J
P.C.
Trinity . . . .
—
—
130
J. Saul
T. Leigh.
P.C.
St. Paul . . . .
^
—
_
150
T. Lowe, 1831 .
R. of Warrington
Warrington /
P.C.
Birch . . . .
400
600
•^
160
G. Duggard, 1841
J. Dickinson.
P.C.
Hollinfair
400
400
—
136
P. S. Dale, 1829 . )
Rector of War-
P.C.
Bartonwood
600
800
600
96
W. G. Thomas, 1829 J
rington.
i
P.C.
Padgate . . . .
—
...
_
—
H. Brancker
**
P.C.
Astley . . . .
200
400
_
126
A. Hewlett, 1840
Vicar of Leierh.
Leigh . . /
P.C.
Atherton
-»
—
._
100
S. Johnson, 1836 . . )
J. Robson, 1825 . J
Lord Li 1 ford.
P.C.
Tyldesley cam Shackerley
—
.>-
— .
135
f
P.C.
St. Helens
600
400
600
240
W. Pollock .
Trustees.
P.C.
St. Thomas
_
_
__
^_
J. M. Lynn
P.C.
Famworth
200
200
600
172
W.Jeff, 1832 . .\
Vic. of Prescot
Prescot . /
P.C.
Rainford
400
400
400
135
W. EUam, 1807 . . J
P.C.
Great Sankey .
1000
600
600
103
J. Simpson, 1814
Lord Lilford.
P.C.
Eccleston
._
..
^^^
._
R. P. Crockett
P.C.
Parr . . . .
._
..^
__
_
P.C.
RainhiU . . . .
__
__
._
....
t
P.C.
Burscough Bridge .
—
_
~-
_-
W. Wannop, 1840
Vic.of Ormskirk.
Ornoskirk . ,)
P.C.
Latham . • . .
—
— ~
_
178
R. Battesby
Ld. Skelmersdale
P.C.
Skelmersdale .
200
600
1500
142
J. Ireland, 1804 .
Vic. of Ormskirk.
%
P.C.
MaghttU . . . .
600
200
2100
122
G. Holden, 1811 . .^
F. Formby, 1829 . . \
Flalsall . .<
P.C.
Meliing . . . .
400
200
1400
140
Rec. of Halsall.
P.C.
Lydiate . . . .
— .
—
90
R. Bickerstaff, 1841 . J
P.C.
Great Crosby .
200
1000
__
119
E. B. Cbalmer .
Rec. of Sephton.
Sephton . .<
P.C.
Seafoith . . . .
._
_
_
87
W. Rawson, 1815
J. Gladstone.
I
P.C.
Christ Church, Litherland
—
._
m.^
...
J. E. Bates, 1841 . 1
P.C.
St. Jude, Lowhill .
_^
_^_
^^^^
300
H. M'Neile, 1834 . 1
Trustees.
P.C.
Edge Hill, St. Mary
1...
^_
_
170
F. Barker, 1835 . f
P.C.
St. John
_
— .
•^
...
W. H. Tuer, 1836 .J
P.C.
St. James, Tozteth Park .
__
_
__
188
T. Nolan • . . )
J. Cragge, and
P.C.
St. Michael, Toxteih
_«
_^
„_
210
W. Hesketh, 1822 . S
others.
Walton-on-the-
P.C.
St. John, Toxteth .
_^
^_
__
J. Hassall, 1832.
Trustees.
Hiil . . .{
P.C.
St. Thomas, Toxteth
^■^"
^_
._
^_
C. T. Wilson, 1841 .
J. Gladstone*
P.C.
P.C.
Everton, St George
Everton, St Augustin
—
—
200
300
W.W.Ewbank, 1841 ^
T. Tattersball, 1830 . J
Trustees.
P.C.
Formby . . . .
400
600
200
124
J. Bowman, 1833
Rec. of Walton.
P.C.
Kirkby . . . ,
200
600
— .
92
R. Cort, 1793 .
J. S. Leigh.
P.C.
West Derby .
800
200
3000
166
R. Blacow, 1798 .
Rec. of Walton.
XVlll
ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
INCUMBENCIES NOT FAROCUl Ah^eanHnued.
Id what Parishes.
Descrip-
tion.
PERPETUAL CURACIES
AND ENDOWMENTS.
PQ
Royal
BooBty.
i
INCUMBENTS.
PATRONS.
£.
£.
£,
£.
VValton-on-the.
P. C.
Sl Ann, West Derby
<—
.^
78
r. Gardner, 1831
Trustees.
P. C.
St. John, West Derby .
m^
— .
.—
...
G. F. Green
Hill . . .
P. C.
Kirkdale
_
.—
_
i...
D. James, 1836 .
Trustees.
V
P. c.
Bootle • . . .
^^
—
—
164
J. Gladstone, 1827
W. S. Millar.
'
P. c.
Garston . . . .
730
600
600
138
J. Gibson .
R. Wate
p. C.
Hale . . . .
600
400
300
105
W. Stewart, 1818
J. I. Blackbume.
Cbildwall . .<
P. C.
P. c.
Wavertree
Woolton
—
—
200
117
170
W. Badoail. 1827
R. Leicester, 1826
Trustees.
V.ofChildwall.
p. c.
Aigburth
_
—^
^
—
W. J. Purdon, 1837
P, c.
Halewood
_
—
.»
—
J. Jones, 1839 .
V. of Childwall.
Standish . .<
p. c.
p. c.
Adiington
Coppull . . . .
400
400
400
120
T. Carpenter, 1839 . \
H. W. Jackson, 1839 /
R. ofSUndish.
Eccleston •
P. c.
Douglas.
400
600
...
76
.1. Price, 1829 .
R. of Eccleston.
I^yland i .<
p. c.
Kuxlon • . . .
400
400
—
125
J. Williams, 1837 .1
p. c.
p. c.
Heapy . . . .
Hoghton
400
400
600
1600
150
55
J. Fisher, 1832 . . 1
R. H.Thorpe, 1836. f
Vic. of Leyland.
p. c.
\Vhittle.le-Wood .
_
— .
^B^
40
J. H. Short, 1840 .J
Chorley
p. c.
St. George's .
— .
—
— .
—
T. Todhunter, 1835 .
R. of Chorley.
Penworthan
p. c.
Longton , . . .
850
400
600
148
R. A. Rawstorne .
L. Rawstorne.
MichaeUoD. J
VVyre . .1
p. c.
p. c.
Copp . . . .
Out-RawdifTe .
—
_
—
65
75
T. Hathomthwaite,1841
J. Chad wick, 1837
H. Hornby.
Vic. St. Michael.
p. c.
Wood*Plumptoa
400
600
...
96
J. Mossop. 1836 .
Vic. St. Michael.
Ribchester . ./
p. c.
Stidd . . . .
_ .
—
.—
150
B.T.Haslewood, 1829.
Bp. of Cheater.
p. c.
Longridge
St. James
600
600
—
170
F. Maude, 1831 .
Hulme'sTrastf^^
/
p. c.
._
—
._
665
J. O. Parr, 1840 .
Hulme's Trustees
p. c.
St. George
800
800
1300
161
R. Harris, 1797 .
Vicar of Preston.
p. c.
Trinity . . . .
400
~—
2200
126
T. Raven, 1824 .
Trusts. &V.alL
p. c.
St Paul.
._
»
_
95
J. Rigg. 1828 .
W. M. Parish, 1837 .
The Vicar.
p. c.
St. Peter
—
—
^
110
The Vicar.
Preston. . .(
p. c.
St. Thomas .
—
—
—
—
L. W. Jeffrey. 1839 . |
Miss Hyndman's
Trustees.
p. c.
Christ Church .
_
..^
215
T. Clark, 1836 .
Trustees.
p. c.
St. Mary
..
.^
—
130
J. Parker, 1838 .
Trustees.
p. c.
Ashton-on-Ribble .
._
>—
__
>..
J. Wilson, 1836 .
Trustees.
p. c.
St. Lawrence . •
_
—
—
•—
T. Duell, 1832 .
G. Jacson.
\
p. c.
Broughton
800
200
800
106
W. Dixon, 1817 .
Tr.ofHulmeEsL
/
p. c.
Grirosargh
200
—
500
77
R. Grainger. 1823
The Vicar.
p. c.
Whitechapel .
4C0
600
—
104
v. Benn, 1836 . .*)
p. c.
p. c.
Hambleton
Lund . • . .
200
1200
400
200
1500
102
192
W. Hough. 1836 . .(
R. Moore, 1820 . . I*
Vic. of Kirkham.
Kirkham . .
p. c.
Ribby wUh Wrea, P. C. .
600
800
300
76
J. Fo», 1801 . .J
p. c.
Singleton
1000
1200
i—
110
r. Banks, 1795 .
H. Hornby.
p. c.
Warton w Freckleton, P. C.
400
800
300
86
G. Wylie. 1830 ,
Vic. of Kirkham.
N.
p. c.
Goosenargh .
400
400
200
97
R. Studholme, 1822 .
Vic. of Kirkham.
/
P.C.
Oarsiang
400
600
500
93
W. Armistead, 1835 .
The Vicar-
Garstaog . A
P.C.
Pilling . . . .
400
400
1100
124
J. D. Banister, 1825 . |
E. Hornby.
J. Gardner.
ff
P.C.
St. John . . . "j
400
400
800
203
G. Morland, 1824 .']
P.C.
St. Ann • . . V
—
— ~
...
115
C. Bury . . .
P.C.
St. Thomas . . 1
—
-^
—
_
J. N. S. Armytage .
P.C.
Admarsh
i_
1000
200
44
J. Robinson, 1837 .
P.C.
Caton . , . .
400
600
._
100
G. Thurtell . . .
P.C.
Glasson . . • .
— .
—
i...
.~
T. Barrow, 1840 . . }.
V. of Lancaster.
r.anraKter . i
P.C.
Gressingham •
—
800
—
80
W. Stratton, 1838 .
LjnUVClBI«( • •!
P.C.
LitUedale
200
600
..
48
R. Bowstead, 1798 .
P.C.
Overton . . . .
400
400
1.-.
155
J.R.G.Manby, 1838
P.C.
Poulton-le-Sand
400
200
600
88
G. D. Scott. 1839 .
P.C.
Quern more
<—
_
.^
i.—
r.R. Dickenson, 1841
P.C.
Skerton . . . .
—
..
...
D. B. Bevan
Trustees.
P.C.
Stalmine
200
200
^.
267
J. Rowley, 1799 .
V. of Lancaster.
V
P.C.
Wyersdale
Ellel . . . .
Shireshead
600
600
m^
135
R. Watson, 1829 .
V. of Lancaster.
Cockerham A
P.C.
P.C.
200
200
600
800
-^
150
93
R. Thompson . . )
R. Brickel, 1828 . . C
V. of Cockerham.
I
P.C.
Dolphinholme
Aughton
_
._
..^
_.
' ^
Halton . .
P.C.
200
200
—
140
J. Morland, 1817
Rec.ofHaltoo.
LANCASHIRE.
XIX
INCUMBENCIES NOT PAROCHIAL— con/inwed.
In what Pariihef.
Descrip-
tion.
PERPETUAL CURACIES
WITH ENDOWMENTS.
Private
Benefactioni.
Royal
Bonoty.
Pariia.
Dieniary
Grants.
•
INCUMBENTS.
PATRONS.
£.
£.
£.
£.
Melling . A
P. C. Aikbolme
—
600
—
51
R. MallisoD, 1829
Vicar of Melling.
P. C.
HoFDby • . . .
400
800
800
92
T. Fogg. 1840 .
P. Dawson.
Tatham
P.C.
Tatham-Fell .
—
800
—
125
T. Hodgson .
Rec. of Tatharo.
Tunstall .
P. C.
Leek • . . .
200
600
300
60
R. DuDderdale, 1837 .
Vic of Tuustall.
VVarton
P.C.
Silverdale
200
600
—
47
T. Whinery. 1828
Vicar of Wartoo,
BoItoD-le-Sands
P.C.
Over-Kellet .
400
400
—
170
W. Bradshaw. 1825 .
R. F. Bradshaw.
AldiDgham
P.C.
Deodroa
200
600
— .
45
J. Pattioson. 1818
R.of Aldingharo.
j
Kirkby Ireleth <
P.C.
BrougbtoQ Furaess .
400
400
—
108
W. Pearson, 1794
J. D. Sawrey.
P.C.
Seathwaite
400
600
—
60
E. Tysen, 1802 . . j
Devs. of late R.
Towers.
[
P.C.
Woodland .
200
600
—
68
W. Sandwith, 1815 ,
Landowners.
^
f
P.C.
Holy Trinity .
—
—
—
143
G. Pickering, 1840 .
r. R.G. Braddyl.
P.C.
Blawitb . . . .
— .
800
—
59
T. Hartley, 1841 .
T.R.G. Braddyl
VTI A ^
P.C.
Coniston
2)0
400
800
100
T. Tolmine, 1840
T.R.G. Braddyl.
J.&Mrs.Everard.
Ulverston • •<
P.C.
Lowick . . . .
400
600
1600
75
T. Hartley, 1831 .
J. Machell, 1833 .
P.C.
Egton and Newland
—
400
1200
92
J. P. Machell.
P.C.
Torver . . . .
—
200
600
59
M. J. Carter, 1807
H.ILG.Braddyl.
Hawkshead
P.C.
Satterlhwaite .
200
400
—
71
H. Barnes, 1833 .
I. of Hawkshead.
Cartmel . •<
P.C.
Field Brouehton
Flookborogh .
Cartmel Fell .
200
400
200
67
W. Wilson, 1829 . ^
W. Rigg, 1822 . .
R. B.Cockerton, 1829 /
J. Statler, 1834 . .
E. Townley, 1827 . J
P.C.
P.C.
400
400
800
z
121
67
Earl of Barling-
■
P.C.
Lindale « . . .
400
400
^
71
ton.
P.C.
Staveley . . . .
—
800
—
108
r
P.C.
Finsthwaite .
600
600
—
76
J. Bigland» 1822 .
Landowners.
Coulton • ••(
P.C.
Haverthwaite .
—
—
—
62
J. Gaskarth, 1839
Inc. of Coulton.
P.C.
Rusland
400
400
200
50
J. Barrow, 1826 .
Inc. of Coulton.
f
P.C.
Trinity . . . .
...
—
...
— .
G. F. Greene
Bispham . *<
P.C.
Blackpool
—
600
1700
130
W. Thornber
Trustees.
I
P.C.
Soutbsbore
—
.-'
-..
—
B. Edwanls, 1841
P.C.
Marton • • . .
800
400
2200
88
T. Bryer, 1814 .
Trustees.
PodtoD-le- J
Fylde . .1
P.C.
P.C.
Thornton . . ^
Fleetwood . . /
^_^
—
— -
110
200
St.V.Beechey, 1841 1
Trustees. Sir P.
H. Fleetwood.
V
P.C.
St. George
—
—
—
S 55
i 75
J. B. Monk, 1829 )
T. G. Leigh, 1829 ]
J. Fletcher.
P.C.
St. Thomas .
—
—
—
138
J J. C. Prince . i
I T. L. Pain . . ]
Trustees^
P.C.
St Paul . . . .
—
—
—
( 110
( 85
J. H. Stafford, 1834 )
R. H. Formby, 1834 (
P.C.
St. Anne
—
—
—
99
W. BlandeU, 1802
P.C.
St. John , . . .
—
—
—
270
/R. Loxham, 1815 ^
\T. Moss . . /
H. M'Neile, and
others.
P.C.
Trinity , . . .
—
250
T. Bibby .
J. Bibby.
P.C.
St. Stephen .
—
—
*-
120
J. Picton, 1831 .
Rec. of Liverpool.
P.C.
St. Matthew .
—
-^
— .
107
H. B. W. HUlcoat
rnistees.
P.C.
Christ Church
—
..^
—
105
F. Quid
Trustees.
P.C.
St. Mark
—
.«
■ —
380
R. Blacow", 1803 .
Trustees.
P.C.
St. Andrew
—
— .
—
295
J. .Tones, 1815 . .
J. Gladstone.
Liverpool . X
P.C.
St. Philip
—
—
—
5200
1200
T. S. Bd<^8tead. 1816 )
R.L.Townsend,1828)
J. Cragg.
P.C.
St. Michael .
—
—
—
5 295
i295
H. Carpenter . )
C. Morrall . . ]
J. Lawrence.
P.C.
St David
—
— ~
203
R. Davis, 1828 .
Trustees.
P.C.
St. Martins-in-tbe-Fields .
—
—
(320
(220
C. D. Gladwin, 1830 )
Cecil Wray . . ]
P.C.
St Bride
~.
—
—
305
J. H. Stewart, 1830 .
Trustees.
P.C.
St Luke
—
—
—
5254
(254
C. W. Lawrence, 1831 >
T. Hornbv . . ]
Sir J. Walmsley.
P.C.
St Catherine .
.^
_—
—
250
J. North,* 1834 .
Trustees.
P.C.
AllSaiDto
—
—
—
A. M'Conkey
Trustees.
P.C.
St Barnabas .
—
—
—
— .
T. Nolan, 1841 .
Trustees.
P.C.
St Silas, Windsor .
—
—
—
—
F. Parry
P.C.
St. Bartholomew, Nay ler St.
—
—
—
—
G. Dover, 1841 .
Trustees.
P.C.
St Mary, Walton .
—
—
—
._
T.Moss
J.S. Leigh.
P.C.
St. Saviour^s .
—
_— .
—
— ~
P. Crowford
\
P.C.
St Matthew .
—
—
—
—
E. Spencer . • ■ )
Rector of Liver-
pool & others.
XX
ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
INCUMBENCIES NOT PAROCHIAL— <:oiiftnwrf.
In what Parislies.
Descrip-
tion.
PERPETUAL CURACIES
WITH ENDOWMENTS.
A
PQ
Royal
Bounty.
•
S
INCUMBENTS.
PATRONS.
£.
£.
£.
£.
Liverpool .
{
P. C.
Mariner's Church .
—
—
—
—
W. Maynard . . I
Rector of Liver
pool & others.
I
P. C.
St. Simon
»-
— .
—
—
J. R. Conner, 1839
Radcliflfe .
■
P. C
St. ThomaB
.
■_
—
100
G. Slade, 1838 .
The Rector.
Huyton
•
P. c.
Knowsley
1 • »
—
—
—
F. Hopwood
North Meols
■{
P.O.
p. c.
Soathport
Crossens .
•
■ •
—
1 ""
—
107
J. Edwards. 1841
J. Power, 1841
P. H. Fleetwood.
Of the PAROCHIAL BENEFICES in LANCASHIRE first enumerated above, the following have Endowments
Descrip-
tion.
^ Private
Benefactions.
£,
^ Parliament-
ary Grants.
•
£.
Defcrip-
tlon.
Private
Benefactions.
Royal
Bounty.
• •
•
>
£.
-
£.
^e.
£.
P. C.
AUcar . . . .
—
6001200
95
V.
Mellio^ • . . .
400
200
1400
113'
P. C.
Bispham
400
400
..
275
V.
Ormskirk
200
200
^
367.
V.
BoUon-le-Moors
200
200
—
464
V.
Pennington
200
600
>_
141i
V.
Bolton-le-Sand
200
200
■^
191
P.C.
Penwortham .
_
__
1500
1061
P.C.
Cartmel ....
—
—
200
113
V.
Poulton . . . .
400
600
^.^
257!
R.&vJChipping
400
400J 200
102
R.
Radcliffe
200
—
^__
363|
P.C.
Couiton . . . .
400
400 600
84
P.C.
Tarleton ....
660
600
1099
139
V.
Dalton . . . .
600
4001500
113
V.
Tunstall
400
400
...^
33-21
V.
Dean ....
527
200
600
213
P. C.
Ulverston
200
200
_
88'
P.C.
Flixton . . . .
600
200! 1400
107
V.
Urswick ....
_
200
1200
V.
Huyton . . . .
200
—
1200
150
R.
Warrington
400
600
1200
125j
P.C.
Hesketh cum Becconsal .
400
600
275
V.
Warton, 30/. per annnm .
._
.^
1400
lp-2
V.
Kirkby Ireleth
200
4001700
125
V.
Whalley
200
300
600
140
2823
V.
Leiffh . . . .
Lytham, and 71. per ann. .
200
200
_
265
R.
Wigan . . . .
_
GOO 2299
P.C.
800
600
600
131
1
The number of Dissenting Places of Worship in the county, in 1840, was^ Catholic, 59 ; Independents, 106; Baptists,
54; Welsh Baptists, 6; Scotch Baptists, 1 ; Unitarians, 89; PrimitiTe Methodists, 89 ; Wesleyan Methodists, 196; New
Connexion Methodists, 26; Wesleyan Association Methodists, 21; Welsh Methodists, 4; Independent Methodists, II ;
Quakers, 28; Swedenborgians, 16 ; Presbyterian and Scotch, 15; Htintingdonians, 5; Scandinavians, 8; Bible Christians, 3;
Welsh CaWinists^ 3; Morayians, 2; Welsh Independents^ 2; Primitiye Episcopalians, 2; Jews, 2; Inghamites,
Arminian Independents, Evangelical Friends, Irvingites, Converted Jews, and Israelites, 1 each. Total, 1091, of all
denominations, including the Episcopalian Establishment ; but new chapels are constantly buildings and the total number
can never be correct, beyond the moment. Thus the Catholic chapels increased from 77 to 95, between 1819 and 1840;
and those of other sects^ between 1823 and 1840, from 330 to 590.
LANCASHIRE.
XXI
TITHE COMMUTATIONS, NOT INCLUDED IN THE LIST OF BENEFICES ABOVE GIVEN.
Ashton mlh Stodday 22
Walton.le.Dale . 387 3
Ainsirorth . . 48
Stretford . . 430
Hop wood • 60
Abram . . . 242
Thornbam . . 73 14
Pilsworth . . 125
Great Heaton . 75
Dalton— Wigan . 275 15
Ditto . . 88 15
Hindley . . 298 11
Weeton with Prease 386
Ditto . . 51 19
Ditto . . 1 13
Ribby wUh Wrea . 149 15
Ditto . . 34 5
Ditto . . 1 13
West Derby . . 420
Ditto . . 38
Bare & Torrisholme 265
Ashworth . . 15
Treales, Rosaere^ 7 230 13
and Wharles • )
Dtlto . 672
Ditto . . 1 13
Greenalgh, part of . 88 3
Ditto . . 165 8
Ditto . 12
Thistleton, part of, 22 1
Ditto . . 99
Ditto . . 11
Kirkham . . 5 16
Elswick . . 129
AspuU . . . 214 3
Freckleton . 123 13
Ditto . . 190
Ditto . . 1 13
Newton with Scales 90
Ditto . . 160
Ditto . • 1 13
Woodplumpton .531 10
BryningwA^AKeller ) g. ,g
mergh . • 3
Ditto . 164
Ditto . .16
Ince in Macrefield 33 17
Ditto . . 117 11
Melling cum Caus- 7 cqc q
cough . . {
BickersUffe . . 750
MaghuU . . 630
Lathom . 1001 6
Alston . . 150
Ditto . . . 20
Elston .
. 52 12
Ditto . . 2 13
Ashton within > >>/wv ^
MacreBeld ,\^ ^
Padiham • . 41 5
Ditto . 10
Clayton-le- Woods . 82
Ditto . . 100
Haigh . .218 15
Orrell . . . 167 7
Billinge Chapel End 189 7
Billinge Higher End 216 13
d.
Impropriator.
3 Impropriators.
Rector of M iddleton .
Christ Coll., Manchester.
Rector of Middleton.
Rector of Wigan.
Rector of Middleton.
Ditto.
Rector of Prestwich.
6\ Impropriator.
Rector of Wigan.
Ditto.
Ch. Ch. Oxford, D. & C.
11 Vicar of Kirkham.
4 Parish Clerk o( Kirkhaih.
Ch. Ch. Oxford, D. & C.
11 Vicar of Kirkham.
4 Parish Clerk of Kirkham.
Rector of Walton.
Vicar of Walton.
Impropriators.
Rector of Middleton.
4 Vicar of Kirkham.
Ch. Ch. Oxford, D. & C.
4 Parish Clerk of Kirkham.
8 Impropriators.
4 Ch. Ch. Oxford, D. & C.
Parish Clerk of Kirkham.
8 Vicar of Kirkham.
Ch. Ch. Oxford, D. & C.
4 Parish Clerk of Kirkham.
4 Parish Clerk.
Impropriator.
0| Rector of Wigan.
4 Vicar.
Ch. Ch. Oxford, D. & C.
4 Parish Clerk of Kirkham.
4 Vicar of Kirkham.
Ch. Ch. Oxford, D.&C.
4 Parish Clerk of Kirkham.
Impropriator.
8 Vicar of Kirkham.
Ch. Ch. Oxford, D. & C.
8 Parish Clerk of Kirkham.
3 Rector of Wigan.
11 Impropriator.
Rector of Halsall.
Impropriator.
Rector of Halsall.
8 Impropriator.
Bishop of Chester.
Vicar of the Parish.
P. C. of Coppal in SUn-
dish Parish.
Vicar of Preston.
Rector of Winwick.
Impropriators.
Curate.
Vicar of Leyland.
Impropriators.
Rector of Wigan.
10 Ditto. I
6 Ditto.
Ditto.
Croxteth Park
Ditto
Eccleston, Great
VVinstanley .
Winmarleigh
Atherton
Brotherton .
Ditto
Tonge .
Tottington Higher
End
Ditto
:!
£. *.
147
5
192
203 9
150
118 4
325
45
20
10
10
Tottington Ix)wer ) ».
End . . $
Ditto . . 31
DolphinholmeHouse
Scabgill and Fox-
haises, Gregories
and Birkenhead,
and Bourne's Tene- )!
ments (in Nether
Wyersdale Town-
ship, and Garstang
Parish) . .
Dutton
Skelmersdale .
2
2
48 15
39 5
Alkington
Marton
Ditto .
Ditto .
90
220
40
506
84
2
Ditto. . . 117 19
Medler-wtVA-Wesham 61
Ditto . . 32
Ditto . . 29 2
Ditto . . 1 13
Kellet Nether . 340
Ditto . . 34
Simonswood . .121
Ditto . . .10
Allerton . . 228 3
Ditto . . . 42 17
«{
d.
R. of Walton-onthe-Hill.
Vicar of ditto.
Impropriator.
Rector of Wigan.
11^ Impropriator.
8 Ditto.
Rector of Chorley.
Rector of Croston.
Rector of Prestwich cum
Oldham.
Rector of Bury.
^ ( Rector of Prestwich cum
^ X Oldham.
6 Rector of Bury.
f. c Rector of Prestwich cum
^ ] Oldham.
r Impropriator.
" \ Curate of Higher Wyers-
/ dale.
Vicar of Ribchester.
Impropriator.
i Rector of Prestwich cum
^ \ Oldham.
Impropriators.
Vicar of Poulton.
6 Parish Clerk.
Coupe Lenches, Newl^ ,„
Hall Hey . . j^ ^^
Hall Car . . 2 12 6
Windle . . 315 9
Ditto . . . 275 19
Cuerdley . . 128
Ditto . . . 81 11
Bold . . 335 17
6 Rector of Bury.
6
1
5
4
4
8
6
Widsus .
.243 5 11
Ditto . . 160
Burton wood . .421 1
Lea, Ashton, Ingol, > ««. ^
andCottom P^^ "
Ditto. . . 13
Skerton . . . 74
Heaton wtlAOxcliffe 122 15
Ditto . . 245 10
8
i
Rector of Prestwick cum
Oldham.
ProT. and Schol. K. Col. of
St. Mary & St.Nic. Cam.
Vicar of Presoot.
SProv. and Schol. of King's
Col. &c. Cambridge.
Vicar of Prescot.
( Prov. and Schol. of King's
( Col. etc. Cambridge.
Vicar of Prescot.
D. & C. of Ch. Ch. Oxford.
Impropriators.
Vicar of Kirkham.
Parish Clerk of Kirkham.
Bishop of Chester.
Vicar of Bolton-le- Sands.
RecofWalton-on-the-Hill
VicofWalton^n-the-Hill
Bishop of Chester.
Vicar of Walton.
ProT. and Schol. of King's
Col. etc. Cambridge.
Vicar of Prescot.
Rector of Warrington.
lOf Impropriator.
Vicar of Preston.
Impropriator.
^ i Incum. of the Parochial
\ Chapelry of Overton.
Impropriators.
xxu
ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
TITHE COMMUTATIONS— co»i/ini/rt/.
!
4
66
]
82
14
70
11
158
300
141
£. 9.
Ulneswalton . . 190
Ditto . . 60
Longton . .80
Ditto . 328
Cuerden . . 29 12
Ditto . . 56
Ellon . . . 84
Heap . . . 169
Walmereley cum
Shuttle worth
Dilworth
Ditto
Hothersall
Ditto .
Golborne
Newton within
Macrefield
Haydock
Southworth with >230
Croft • 5
Culcbetb . . 70
Ditto. . . 345
Houghtoniirt<AMid- > inn n
dleton & Arbury J ''*" "
Kenyon. . . 160
Lowton. . . 107
Ightonhill Park . 20 13
Cronton . . 52 10
Ditto .
Sutton . . . 350
Ditto. . . 196
Rainford . . 350
Ditto
Scathwaite . . 40
Ditto. • .10
Howick . . 44 11
Ditto . . 2 15
Great Sankey
Ditto. . . 65
Ditto . . 75
Penketh
Ditto .
Rawe1iff» Upper,
with Tarnicor
Bilsborough . .104
Parr . . .136 15
Ditto . . 94
Whiston . . 200
Ditto . . 130
Rainhill . . 165
. 99
. 40
1 152
9
1
3
105
320
3
7
130
5
9
6
9
Reotor of Rufford.
Rector of Croston.
Curate of Penwortham.
Impropriator.
Diito.
Vicar of Leyland.
Rector of Bury.
Ditto.
Ditto.
Bishop of Chester.
Vicar of Ribchester.
Bishop of Chester.
Vicar of Ribchester.
Reotor of Winwick.
Ditto.
Ditto.
Ditto.
Ditto.
Impropriator.
Rector of Winwick.
Ditto.
Ditto.
Impropriators.
Vicar of Prescot.
ProT. and Schol. of King's
Col. etc. Cambridge.
Ditto.
Vicar of Prescot*
Ditto.
Prov. and Schol. of King*s
Col. etc. Cambridge.
D.& C. of SuPeter's York.
In.ofChap.ofSeathwaite.
Impropriators.
Curate of Penwortham.
Prov. and Schol. of King's
Col. etc. Cambridge*
Rector of Warrington.
Vicar of Prescot.
Prov. and Schol. of King*s
Col. etc. Cambridge.
Vicar of Prescot
Impropriators.
Impropriator.
iProT. and Schol. of King's
Col. etc. Cambridge.
Vicar of Prescot.
Prov. and Schol. of King's
Col. etc. Cambridge.
Vicar of Prescot.
K Prov. and Schol. of King's
( Col. etc. Cambridge.
\
£.
Rainhill . . 7
Thornton . . 244
Ditto . . 40
Layionimt/ftWarbeck 1
Ditto . . .38
Ditto . . .201
Angerton . • 2
Stalminewi/ASUynall 284
Ditto. . . 130
Presall with Hack- } 353
!
ensall
Barnacre
Black rod
Kirkby
Ditto .
Singleton, Great
and Little .
Ditto .
Ditto .
Ditto .
Eccleston Little
Ditto .
Broughton
Ditto .
Ilaighton
Ditto .
Carleton
Ditto .
Chadderton .
HardhornwNewton 401
Ditto. . . 40
Clifton w Saltwick . 530
Ditto. . . 75
Ditto. . . 1
(366
•) 50
Westby&Plumpton 690
Ditto, . . 71
^28
. 148
. 98
. 460
5
.!"
. 353
. 1
1
. 155
25
1
157
12
70
4
328
35
120
Mawdesley
Ditto.
Scarisbrick
Ditto.
Kirkdale
Ditto .
Bootle cum Li nacre 200
Ditto .
Hambleton .
Ditto .
Ditto .
Halewood •
Ditto •
Ditto .
Lostock
Inskipp 10. Sowerby
HoUeth .
1
970
94
80
5
35
178
35
1
330
61
3
2
63
63
«.
2
3
1
12
5
6
13
10
6
13
13
9
9
13
4
d.
6
4
17
9
5
11 6
5
11 8
8
6 8
10
8
4
8
4
13
19 8
4
4
4
6
6
Vicar of Huyton.
Impropriatora.
P.C. of Ch. ofTborntoc
Impn^riator.
P.C.Trin. Cb.Soutbsbore.
Imp. Curate of Bisphaic.
D. & C. of York.
Impropriators.
Cu. of Curacy oTScalmiBe.
Impropriators.
Cu. of Curacy of Stal mine
Impropriator.
Bishop of Chester.
R of Waltoo-oa-the-HIi.
Vicar of Ditto.
Vicar of Kirkham.
D. & C. of Chrial Cb. Oxf.
Impropriator.
Parish Clerk of Kirkham.
D.&C. of Christ Ch. OxC
Vicar of Kirkham.
Parish Clerk of Kirkhsra.
Impropriators.
Vicar of Preston.
Impropriator.
Vicar of Preston.
Impropriatora.
Vicar of Poulton.
Rector.
Impropriators.
Vicar of Poulton.
D.&C. of Christ Ch. Oxf.
Vicar of Kirkham.
Parish Qerkof Kirkham.
Rector of Chorley,
Rector of Croston.
D.& C. of Christ Ch. Oif.
Vicar of Kirkham.
Parish Clerk of Kirkbais.
Impropriator.
Rector of Halsall.
R. of Walton^n-tbe-Hili.
Vicar of Ditto.
Rector of Ditto.
Vicar of Ditto.
D.& C. of Christ Ch. OxC
Vicar of Kirkham.
Parish Clerk of Kirkham.
Bishop of Chester.
Vicar of Childwall.
Inc. of Chapel of Halcb
Bishop of Chester.
Impropriators.
Impropriator.
LANCASHIRE. XXIU
Railroads. — These great undertakings owe their existence to the spirit of the projectors of the
railroad between Manchester and Liverpool, which was opened in 1890, after obstacles which many
deemed insurmountable had been triumphantly overcome by the science and bold practice of modern
engineering. Lancashire is still the great centre of these communications, applying the term to its
Internal economy. The Liverpool and Manchester line is 32} miles and 33 yards long, and was
completed at the expense of 1,089,818/. 17s. ?</., or 35,161/. per mile ; an expense much greater than
would have been incurred had the experience and information obtained in the course of its construc-
tion been previously acquired. There were also unusual difficulties to be overcome in the progress of
the work, which contributed to the same result, such as carrying the road across Chat Moss, a quaking
morass, and there was a good deal of difficult excavation; yet the return of profit was nine per cent,
during the first seven years afler it was made available for travelling.
The Grand Junction Railway. — But a portion of this line is in the county of Lancaster, although
projected and carried into effect principally by capitalists there. The road from the Newton junc-
tion as far as Warrington, where it meets the line through Cheshire from Birmingham, is all
which is in Lancashire. From Birmingham to the termination this line is 82^ miles in length, and
was effected at a cost of 1,512,150/., or about 19,000/. a mile, the ground being remarkably favourable.
Mam:haUr and Leedt Railway, — This is an undertaking of great magnitude, and exhibits proofs of
the surpassing skill of its engineers. Some of its tunnels are of enormous length, passing through the
hill ridges that divide Lancashire from Yorkshire, and opening communications with the northern and
eastern part of the kingdom. Its length to Leeds is 60 miles, going by Rochdale to Todmorden,
20 miles from Manchester, where it enters the county of York.
Mancheder and BoUon Railway. — This line is 12} miles in length, the principal train stopping only
at Stone Clough on the way.
Manchester and Stockport RaUway. — This railroad, about seven miles in length, runs to Stockport,
from whence there is a line of road to Birmingham. It crosses the Mersey by a magnificent viaduct.
JBoUon, Leigh, and Kenyon Railway, — This railway connects the Liverpool and Manchester railway
with Bolton and Leigh, coming into the former at Kenyon, a little more than a third of the distance
from Manchester to Liverpool.
BoUon and Preston Railway. — Tin's line passes Horwich, Rawlloson Bridge, Clayton Green, and
Bamber Bridge, being about 21 miles in length.
The North Union Railway. — This road commences with what was called the Newton and Wigan
railway, upon the line from Liverpool to Parkside and Manchester. Near Wigan it proceeds to
Preston due north, it connects the latter town with Birmingham and the metropolis.
The Lancaster and Preston Railway. — This line proceeds due north from Preston by Garstang to
Lancaster, a distance of about 21 miles, prolonging the communication from the metropolis to tliat
county town, a distance of about 240 miles, which is now accomplished easily in an ordinary day.
The Preston and Wyre Railway. — This railway connects Preston and the south with the new and
commodious port of Fleetwood on the Wyre river, by which the shortest passage is made from London
to the north of Ireland.
St, Helens and Runcorn Railway, — This railroad crosses that of Liverpool and Manchester, uniting
those places with St. Helens on the north, and Runcorn Gap on the south, where there is a ferry into
Cheshire.
Canals. — These communications in or connected with the county were among the earliest and most
important in the kingdom. As soon as Liverpool became a place of commercial importance, it was
quickly discovered that the produce imported there must be dispersed internally, and that the cheapest
mode of communication must be effected, with Manchester in particular, to transmit raw goods,
and return the goods manufactured. Vessels of tolerable size were able to navigate as far as
Warrington upon the Mersey, but no further. The Irwell, which flowed by Manchester, was not
navigable, and hence it was proposed to make that river so by means of locks and wears. In 1720, an
act was obtained for this purpose, and the object was effected. In the same year the river Weaver was
made navigable from the Mersey, near Frodsham Bridge, to Winsford beyond Northwich, where rock
salt was obtainable, to be conveyed down to Liverpool. This was a public work, and the act provided
that any surplus arising from the tolls should be applied to repair the bridges of the county of Chester,
and the highways generally. The expenses of the improvements have been paid off, and the tolls have
yielded a large surplus, while the turnpike tolls have not been equal to the receipts by 2000/. per
annum, but the surplus has been applied to building churches. The length of this navigation,
which properly belongs to Cheshire, is 20 miles. The navigation of the river Douglas, which falls into
Xxiv ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
the Ribble, was cfTootcd from this last place to Wigan in 1727, in like manner wiili the foregoing, by act
of parliament. In 1737, a scheme was set on foot for rendering Worsley Brook nayigable; and this,
though abortive, was the parent of the celebrated canals of the Duke of Bridgewater.
The Sankiy CanaL — The acts for this undertaking, the first of the kind in England, were pasKd in
1755 and 1761. It is carried to the vicinity of Su Helena from the Mersey at Fidler's Ferry, m
disUnce of about 12 miles, and has a fall of 60 feet.
Th« Duke of Bridgewater » CanaU, — These celebrated communications, the work of Brindley, the
self-taught engineer, were commenced by the canal from Worsley to Salford and Manchester, for
the conveyance of the Duke's coals. Here the skill of Brindley was first developed, in the canal cut
under an act of parliament passed in 17j8>9. This excavation has extensive subterraneous communi-
cations, and an aqueduct bridge at Barton over the Irwell, with which river it has since been connected.
There are no less than 33 miles of tunneling connecting the Worsley canals.
The Manchester and Runcorn Canal, — This was one of the Duke of Bridgewater*s canals, the greater
part of which passes through Cheshire, where, at Preston* on-the- Hill, it communicates with the Trent
and Mersey, and with the South of England. The limits of the canal in Lancashire are the aqueduct
bridge, where it crosses the river into the sister county. It is 29 miles long, and joins the Worsley and
Manchester canal In the township of Stretford: the produce of both is said to be 90,000/. per annum;
the cost was 220,000/.
The Liverpool and Leeds Canal, — This commences at Liverpool, and nuking a circuit west and north
of Ormskirk, is carried to Wigan ; crossing the river Douglas, and passing round the town northwmrds
by Chorley, it proceeds north-east to Blackburn and Burnley, thence to Colne, and near Pendle Hill
quiu the county, having a course from Liverpool to Leeds of 107 miles, the central level being 525 feet
above the sea.
The Manchester, Bolton, and Bury Canal. — This was begun in 1791, and was soon completed, eflTect-
ing a perfect communication, fifteen miles long, between the three towns, with a rise of 187 feet
The Manchester and Rochdale Catutl — An act was passed, authorising the making of this canal, in
1794, to open a navigation from Halifax to the Duke of Bridgewater's canal at Manchester, and to com-
municate with the Calder and Yorkshire. It leaves the south-west side of Manchester, runs parallel
with the Oldham road to Failsworth, passes near Chadderton, a little east of Rochdale, then by
Littleburgh, and so northward to Todmorden, and enters Yorkshire. It is 31 4 miles long, and falls, on
the Lancashire side, 438 feet, thus opening an internal navigation between Liverpool and Hull. It has
five enormous reservoirs, and cost 600,000/., having a trafiSc of 1400 tons per day. It was recentlj
connected with the Irwell and Bolton canal.
The Manchester, Ashton, and Oldham Canal, — This canal, began in 1792, on the east side of Man-
chester, crosses the Medlock, passes Bradford, and goes by Fairfield to Ashton, being 11 miles in
length, with a rise of 152 feet ; the Oldham canal goes ofi^ at Fairfield.
The Asldon and Hudderspeld Canal, — In 1794 the act for this canal was passed : it runs parallel with
the Tame from Ashton, until it enters Yorkshire, in the township of Saddleworth, being 19} miles
long, and the dead level 436 feet on the Yorkshire side. At Ashton the Peak Mount canal joins the
Ashton across the Tame near Duckenfield bridge, and cflTects a communication with Derbyshire.
The Manchester and Stockport Canal, — This canal, about six miles in length, eflfects a communication
between these two large manufacturing districts, entering the Manchester and Ashton canal about
midway between Manchester and Ashton. It does not cross the Mersey.
The Wigan, Leigh, and Worsley Canal, — This commences in the Liverpool and Leeds canal near
Wigan, and passing by Leigh enters the Duke of Bridgewater 's canal by Worsley, being about 14
miles in length. It was begun in 1795.
The Lancaster Canal, — This canal extends northwards to Kendal, and southwards to Clayton-Ie-
Woods, and is 78 miles long. It was begun in 1703, and opened to Preston in 1799, passing through
Garstang. Near Lancaster it crosses the Lune by an aqueduct bridge. In 1834, the income was
32,500/. A branch extends to Glasson Dock, about four miles from Lancaster.
The Haslingden Canal, — This canal, 13 miles in length, was projected to join the Bury canal at that
Town, and the Liverpool and Leeds canal at Church, with inclined planes in place of locks.
The Ulverston Canal, — This is a cut designed to connect the town with the sea, and not quite two
miles long : it is 65 feet wide at top, and 30 at the bottom, with 15 feet depth of water, having a lock
1 12 feet long. It facilitates the navigation of small seagoing vessels close up to the place.
There are several river navigations in this county, which have been rendered of important service
to traffic, besides the Irwell, such as that of the Douglas, which falls into the Kibble, enlarged by
a cut to Wigan, since superseded by the Liverpool and Leeds canal.
LANCASHIRE. XXV
AoEicuLTtiRE OF LANCASHIRE. — The agricuUure of Lancashire is principally directed to the supply
of the productions most in denaand among a considerable manufacturing population, hence a large
proportion of the land is deTOted to pasturage upd to growing provender for the numerous cattle and
horses which are maintained in the vicinity of large towns. So much was this the case no great while
ago, and there can be little doubt of its holding good still, that it used to be said before the close of the
last century, when the population was not much more than a third of its present amount, that
Lancashire did not grow corn equal to the consumption of more than one fourth of the year. The
farms are in general not large ; that which is most so in any township, is generally distinguished by the
name of the Old Hall, the past or present residence of the larger proprietor. The high lands and ridges
with the intervening vales in the north and the uorth-east, as well as the banks of the fivers, some of
the latter being land of very good quality, are for the most part devoted, the higher portions to sheep,
and the lower to cattle. In 1803, the stock in Lancashire was taken at 648 oxen ; 84,527 cows ;
54,573 young cattle, including colts; 80,772 sheep and goaU ; 30,982 pigs ; 5474 saddle horses ; and
26,660 for draught. It would be interesting to know how the increase of population has affected this
return, and whether grazing has not increased in a larger proportion than corn tillage, consequently
enlarging the extent of the pasture surface, to which the tendency must have been continually getting
stronger. The supply of milk, and the produce of the dairy, including cheese, of which some of very
excellent quality is made, the growth of a large quantity of potatoes, and that of garden stuff, and of
^stock that cannot be imported with such convenience as corn, must have increased greatly in demand
during the ascent of the population from 672,731 in 1801, to 1,667,064 at present.
The portion of the county from the Mersey to the Ribble boasts a good and fertile soil, with a slip
equal in quality running northward to the Lune, and here corn is produced, but pasturage is observed
to be more prevalent. Low Furness, the Fylde, and the shores of the Lune produce the mopt grain.
The mossy tracts, which are considerable, when they are drained produce both corn and grass, as well
as excellent potatoes. Much moss land, by which is to be understood peat bog, still remains to be
reclaimed, and the vast sands which geographically divide the county in the hundred of Lonsdale,
might be converted to agrarian purposes, did not obstacles intervene from the tenure rather than the
labour or capital required for the purpose. The waste lands are still more considerable than might be'
expected : forty years ago they were said to be 508,500 acres, but a good deal has been inclosed since.
The soil is of every quality and kind — a rich deep loam prevails between the sea coast and the hills, in
the district of the Mersey and Ribble, rendered light by a sandy intermixture, which in the south west
of the county becomes stiff, and about Middleton is mingled with patches of sand. Along the western
coast from Liverpool to the mouth of the Douglas northwards, the soil is a decomposed vegetable earth,
intermixed with sand, and possessed of considerable fertilities, but not without spaces of a somewhat
different character, sometimes black in colour, at others red. Here grass, grain, and garden productions
are combined, as far inland as Wigan. The district called the Fylde, to the north of the Ribble, is
alluvial or clayey all the way to the west, and northwards as far as the Lune; the soil, ns Lancaster is
approached, getting more friable, and exhibiting limestone, the district of which last is severed by the
sands of Morecombe Bay, from Low Furness, where it again appears. All the western shore of the
county as far as the sands, from the Mersey to the mouth of the Lune, is flat, marshy, meadow land fur
some distance internally ; and between Liverpool and the Ribble rests upon a prostrate subterraneous
forest, the trees of which often extracted entire, seem to lie in one direction, as if the waves of the sea
had rolled over them, or they had been laid flat by an irresistible hurricane. Masses of various kinds
of stone are scattered over the surface beneath, imbedded in clay, none of which belong to strata nearer
than North Wales, Cumberland, or Westmoreland.
Manufactures. AIUU and Engines. These must continually vary in number, according to the
increase or decrease of the demand for goods. The number of cotton mills in 1836 was 676, employing
122,991 persons, and machinery equal to 23,153 horse power in steam and water engines; the number
of the former being 714, and of the latter 233. The woollen mills were 99, employing 4575 persons,
and 146 engines of 1506 horse power. The worsted mills were 8, employing 12 engines of 225 horse
power, and 1076 persons. The flax mills were 19, employing 23 engines, having the power of 620
horses, and employing 3506 persons; and the silk mills 22, with 27 engines of 411 horse power,
employing 5382 persons. The total has been calculated — horse power 25,917, and individuals
employed 137,590; steam engines 814, and those of water 340. Of the work people in factories
56,591 were below 18 years of age, and 80,999 above.
XXVI ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
(TURNPIKE RETURNS.) TURNPIKE ROADS
TRUSTS.
Adiington and West Houghton
Agecroft District
Ashton and Piatt Bridge
Baldereton and Barscough Bridge
Barton Bridge and Moses Gate .
Barton Bridge and Strelford
Blackburn to Addingham and Cocking End ....
Blackburn and Preston
Blackburn to Walton Cop .......
Bolton and Blackburn
Bolton and Nightingale
Bolton and St. Helens
Bolton and Westhoughton
Burnley to Edenfield Chapel ......
Bury to BlackburO) etc
Bury and Bolton
Clithero to Blackburui etc
Dryclough, Shaw, and Rochdale
Edenfield Chapel to Little Bolton, etc
Elton and Blackburn «
Garstang and lieiring Syke
Gilda Brook and Irlam District
Gisburne and Long Preston
Haslingden and T^morden
Hulme and Eccles
Hulme and Stretford
Hulton
Ince, Hindley, and Westhoughton
Irlaros o' the-Heigh District
Kirkby Kendal and Kirkby Ireleth
Little Lever
Liverpool, Prescot, Ashton, and Warrington
Liverpool and Preston .......
Livesey Branch
Manchester and Ashton New Road
Manchester and Bury New Road .....
Manchester, Oldham, and Austerlands ....
Manchester, Rochdale, Burv, and Radcliffe Bridge
Manchester and Saltersbrook ......
Mather Fold and Hardmans
Moses Gate District
Ditto Rin^ley District
Oldham and Ripponden .......
Pendleton Distnct
Penwortham and Wrightington
Preston to Garstang
Prestwich and Bury ...... . .
Radcliffe .
Richmond and Lancaster, Western District ....
Ridghill and Lanes, and Holehouse
Rochdale, Manchester District ,
Rochdale, Bamford, and Bury
Rochdale and Burnley
Rochdale and Edenfield
Rochdale Lane-end to Land's End in Heaton
Rochdale and Manchester, Rochdale District
Sharpies and Hoghton
Standedge and Oldham
Sudden Bridge to Bury
Swinton District
Ulverstone and Carnforth
Warrington to Lower Irlam
Warrington and Wigan
Wipn and Preston, north of Yarrow
Ditto, south of Yarrow .
Totals
Total Income.
Total Ksp«iu1Star«.
£.
«.
4,
£.
«. d.
910
15
3
1127
12 11
234
3
11
258
2 2
177
16
4
194
7 8
102
2
3
87
11 5
1393
13
3
1107
10 8
275
12
2
205
7 4
5340
14
4576
12 8
2993
6
3
2957
13 7
1012
16
981
1 4
3734
15
3
3438
2 11
3810
17
6
4314
13 9
2179
17
2110
19 11
631
2
1
393
10 11
2623
4
11
2365
5
11.732
12
5
9934
5 2
1653
9
2
986
13 6
2971
18
7
3196
10
1659
18
10
1680
2 11
1880
4
5
2090
11 1
• 754
12
6
874
11 10
2574
8
1
1957
11 5
2066
7
11
1979
15 1
956
19
5
1195
13 4
2901
19
2
2284
18 10
2324
6
9
1101
10 5
5191
12
10
4710
1 3
876
5
6
757
10 6
622
2
7
529
3 7
2123
8
8
1861
14 6
433
5
2
479 15 5
33
2
9
.^
7956
4
11
6488
3 10
4384
15
5
5059
19 3
80
12
1
95
2 11
869
13
465
9 10
3432
11
8
3099
13 6
11.035
18
12,851
4 2
2624
19
5
1793
14 8
8364
7798
18 2
60
—
■
3003
12
3
2637
8
467
11
4
464
4
2054
3
4
2244
r 4
2288
13
8
1906
10
1203
5
2
1781
19 8
1905
6
8
1432
9 7
5242
1
3396
9 10
1733
8
1899
12 11
516
12
5
889
18 6
340
218
10 6
3970
2
9
3839
2 10
959
15
11
1274
5 8
4278
15
8
4787
5 6
504
19
634
9 3
337
12
300 19 2
1958
6
9
1447
17 7
283
10
8
237
13 10
1614
16
3
2026
7 2
1430
7
2
1427
9 11
2050
2220
15 4
947
3
3
914
7 11
358
386
13 6
1296
13
4
889
19 1
4128
10
6
4138
6 9
963
2
2
500
11 5
148.822
13
9
139,288
16 8
LANCASHIRE.
XX VU
OF LANCASHIRE.
(NUMBER OF MILES, 650 )
1. o
1
Total Debti
<
Inlerest on D«bti.
Z(»
No.
Sarveyors'
Salaries.
Clerks'
Salaries,
1
Law
Expenses.
Treasurers'
Salaries.
£. 8.
d.
£. «.
A
£. «.
d.
£. •.
d.
£. a. d.
£.
a. d.
5118 16
240
50
21
10
10
631 17
4
23 8
10
_^
1 6 8
2320
186
—
.^
_^
,
3100 17
9
27 10
6
^.^
7 9 6
-
3387 5
3
165
20
15 15
^^
21
2127 2
10
100
10
_^
19 17 8
38,518 10
6
1820 8
6
2
110
40
32 2 3
20
41.775 13
6
120
50
20
118 8 4
20
7846 1
8
332
8
50
30
^_
20
28,283 8
9
1435 17
2
70
80
^^
31,557 5
11
1632 6
1
54 12
21
_
..^
10.972 7
2
536 9
8
80
63
._
30
2329 7
6
110
2
—
16
^_
5
8591 16
376 3
2
70
21
27 14 1
20
54,879 5
8
2783 16
10
245
120
455 19 4
28,623 I
5
—
20
31 10
35 5
21
"o '0
16.531 10
799 14
100
30
471 1 2
^^M
31,189 4
1
273 10
6
17
20
25
24,827 16
4
195 4
5
78
60
398 6 6
10
23,138 2
9
736 12
2
25 4
21
._
21
16.811 3
2
802 17
4
37 10
_
100
30
6268 1
5
320
40
50
2 10
26,897 5
7
579 7
8
- 15
21
13 4 10
5
23,721 18
1
196 6
10
61
8
5 5
46 13 7
31,488 12
1
337 16
52
21
5 9 5
17,176 10
693
91
_
79 2
,
2720 12
10
142 9
9
26
22
_
3800
190
15
10 10
20 18 10
10
120 1
6
—
80
50
1 6 8
4149 11
9
197 15
30
15
—
32.2(^ 1
4
1556 15
5
2
280
10 10
111 6 2
50
14,105 16
6
651 16
5
200
75
3 13
50
1113 9
5
54 15
—
5
1 7 5
1
1
30,242 18
6
__
^^
__
39,077 6
3
1125
50
50
4 7 4
45»686 19 10
2361 12
9
300 9
80
198 10
103
4490
243
62 8
42
14 3 4
39,596 10
2
1747 10
200
...
57 19
40
536 5
8
-^
—
_
9840
672 18
2
20
21
_
_^
1122 19
2
80 15
6
25
_
1
10
16.681 10
8
794 6
45
90
45
4047 15
9
180
80
50
1 10
^^
2347
4
80
55 15
7
30
10 13 11
10
19,196 4
2
879 9
40
20
1 12
5
7870
420 19
8
158 5
52 10
4 1 6
7685 8
9
410
62 8
31 10
•««
5777 9
1
246
6 6
10
30
5 16 8
10
12,229 5
10
70
— .
—.
44 15 5
3870
239 16
4
79 16
100
59 13
^__
17,657 14
4
614 12
11
25
21
61 7
^^
23.040 13
11
1017 19
7
105
20
54 6 1
__
9845 9
333 13
10
21
216 19 9
.__
2848 10
135 10
5
10
6 3 6
6980
319 2
11
100
25
96 6
__
24,903 4
11
_
1
_
25
25
^__
10,024 15
4
599 6
8
62
54 12
.._
20
7409 10
6
370 7
4
90
21
3 6
5615 9
9
214 6
7
80
50
9 16 8
^^^
17,800
563 2
6
20
15
4 10 5
1
-
14.492 11
8
340 1
■
15
16 14 5
10
16.169
821 14
8
~-
10
19 18
20
29,834
1500 1
11
52
30
6 9 6
5
1160
58
68
42
21
33 13 11
21
984.309 7
8
34.056 6
I
3768 15
1
1831 2
2982 12 4
598
11
Report, 17 June 1841.
XXviii ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
POPULATION, LONGEVITY, DISEASES.
By the Returns of the PopuUtion for 1841, Lancashire i> found to be the most populous of the
English counties, actually approaching the triple sum of its number in 1801. In that year the census
gave 672,731 inhabitants. In 1811, this number had increased 23 per cent., and reached 828,309 : in
1821, it had reached 1,052,859, or 27 per cent, increase : in 1831, it exhibited the same increase as for
the preceding 10 years, the total being 1,336,854: and in 1841, the increase was 24*7 per cent., tb«
total being 1,667,064, or—
Males ... 1831 ... 605,389 Females ... 686,465
Ditto ... 1841 ... 814,857 Ditto ... 852.207
Increase ... 164,468 Increase ... 165,742
Majority of females over males, 37,350 ; or 1045'2 females for every thousand males.
In 1831, the inhabited houses in this county were 228,130; uninhabited, 11,266; building, 2842.
In 1841, the numbers were respectively 289.166 , 23,604 ; and 3831. The increase in ten years being,
inhabited houses, 61,036; uninhabited. 12,338; building. 989.
The population of Lancashire, on the 30th of June, 1840, the date of the Registrar-general's third
return, properly reduced to that date, was 1,636,224. In which total, the marriages were 15,062, the
births 62,740, and the deaths 51,067 : hence there is I death to 32*04 of the population; 1 marriage to
108*6 ; 1 birth to 26 : deaths, 3*3 to 1 marriage; 4*1 births to a marriage; and 1*2 births to a death. Of
the men married 43, and of the women 65, sign with marks; the average for all EngUnd being 33
men, and 49 women.* The population is above 994 to the square mile. 5*91 of the men, and 14*18
per cent, of the women, marry under 21 years of age.
The above estimates of mortality — 1 to 32*04 of the population, taken as respects the entire county,
would afford an erroneous idea of the deaths in the rural districts, because the towns are included, where
the mortality is greater. Of this Liverpool affords a singular proof : the population, as given in the census
of 1841, is 2*23,054, being ^Jq more than the correct number for the application of the Registrar-general**
return : and in that town the marriages are 3679 ; the births 9925; while the deaths are 9990, these
last being 65 more than the births, so that it is evident the population is kept up, and increases, from
external causes. There is in Liverpool, 1 death to 22' 82; no less than 1 marriage to every 60*6 persona,
and yet there is only one birth to 22*47 of the population, or 2-6 to a marriage; the deaths to the
marriages being as 2*7 to 1. In Manchester and Salford the deaths to the population are as 1 to 303 ;
the marriages as 1 to 71*1 ; the births to the population as 1 to 25*76; the marriages to deaths as 1 to
2*3 ; the births to a marriage as 1 to 2*7, and the deaths to births as 1 to 1*1 ; whence it will be observed
that a different aud more favourable return for the county must be expected ; and it accordingly gives,
excluding the towns of Liverpool and Manchester,'! death to 35*5 of the population; 1 marriage to
149-4 ; and 1 birth to 27. The majority of births ukes place, as with the northern counties in general,
in the June quarter; and they are 55 to each marriage; a singular compensation for the diminished
return of the tewns.
The extraordinary increase of the population of Lancashire has been the result of the wonderful
success of the cotton manufacture. From 1771 to 1775, the consumption of raw cotton averaged only
4,764,549^.: in 1790, it had reached 31,447,605^.; while three years before that period, the number
of cotton mills in Lancashire was only 41. The cotton consumed in the entire manufacture, in 1832,
was 200,000,000 /6«. ; but it is not easy to say the exact proportion of this consumed in Lancashire.
During this increase in the manufacture, the population of the county, which in 1700 was only
166,200, and it is probable was not 300,000 at the time Arkwright began his career, had reached
672,731 in 1801; increased to 828,309 in 1811; and in the thirtieth year following attained its present
enormous aggregate. The progression in population haa accordingly been proportional to the labour
demanded. The capital invested to produce this increase^ in the purcluue of the raw material, in
wages, buildings, and machinery, is calculated at 56,000,000/. : the goods manufactured, about
• Th< Reglitnwf coenl'i diitricti in tbli county uc Asbton Mid OMhua (comprislaf the parUh of Aaliton-BBder-LliM, and the towvaUp*
of Drorleadcn and Hovf hton, and th« ehapeliy of Denton In the pariah of Mancheater s the tovnihipa of Chaddenon. Toage, Cronpton,
Alklngton, Oldham, alMrre and below town ; and the ehapelrjr of RoTton in the pariah of Oldhaa-cma-Preitwich, and the tovnaUpa of Middle-
ton and Thonham In the parish of M iddieton) , Blackburn, Bolton, Burnley, Buiy, Chorlejr, Chorltoa, part of CUthero, fyidc, Garalaiif ,
Haallnf den, Laaeaater, Leigh, U'orpoo^ Mancheater, Ornuklrii, Preaeot, Preaton, Rochdale, Salford, part of Stockport, port of TodaMr>
den, Ulrenton, Warrington, West Derby, Wigan, and Woraley.
LANCASHIRE.
XXIX
90,000,000/. per annum in value. The number of hands employed in the manufiujture generally is
calculated to be 1,500,000 ; but the number belonging to Lancashire it is by no means easy to ascertain
with any approximation to absolute correctness ; though the number of persons in the manufacturing
districts of Lancashire, including Macclesfield and Stockport, which may be said to belong to
them, has been calculated at 1,347.359 ; the superficies occupied by them at 654,410 acres ; the annual
value of the property assessed to the Ux in 1815 — ^2,570,731/.; and the amount annually expended upon
the poor of the same district at 235,798/. The situation of this population is a subject of arery im-
portant and interesting character, involving not only the individuals immediately employed in the cotton
manufacture, but the labourers in the coal mines. These last are a race in Lancashire much demoralised,
and abandoned to the ignorance very nearly of a state of nature. Whole families — fathers, mothers,
and children of tender years, horses and asses together, being occupied, a large proportion of their
lives, in the bowels of the earth, executing the task- work which the head of the family underukes to
perform, and the wages of which compose the sole ambition and end of a degrading existence.
Out of a thousand deaths in Lancashire, south cf Morecombe Bay, 921 die under 70 years of age ;
in Manchester and Salford, 945; and in Liverpool, 947. The average for England and Wales is 859.
Mean of the ages of 1000 registered deaths in Lancashire, compared with the totality of England.
England.
LiVEBPOOL.
MaNCII ESTER.
Lamcasbire. *
Under 1 year
218
238
243-8
248-7
1 under 3'
13M
213-7
192-7
184-4
3 " 5
66-2
80-5
898
79-1
5 «* 10
52-8
648
621
61-9
10 *« 15
271
21-3
21-7
29 3
15 '« 20
354
22-6
27 6
40-3
20 «« 25
400
340
34*2
39-5
25 •• 30
366
350
32-1
33*2
30 •* 35
33-3
341
33-6
27-3
35 *' 40
32-5
36*4
34-5
29-2
40 « 45
30-4
32-9
36-3
24-7
45 " 50
29*4
28-5
29-2
22-0
50 •• 55
29 7
27-5
290
22 8
55 *« 60
29 9
25-7
243
25-6
60 " 65
37-6
28-2
29-4
26-8
65 «' 70
39-2
236
24-9
26-5
70 «• 75
42-3
18*3
231
27-0
75 « 80
40-7
15 3
17-4
23 9
80 " 85
31-5
11-6
8-2
16-6
85 " 90
17 9
4-8
3.4
8-0
90 and upwards
8-4
30
2-7
3-2
Out of 10,000 persons alive in England And Lancashire, male and female, there would be aged
For England.
Under — 5. fitolO. 10 to U. 15 to 90. 90 to 80. 80to40. 40toW. SOtoGO.
1470 1155 941 6656
1684 1210 932 6 653 5
For Lancashies.
1437 1143 8879 5643
1678 1217 868-5 627-0
The health of the labouring classes in this county, it is probable, is less affected by the nature of their
labour than by the fluctuation in the rate of their wages, and the privations too many must sustain in
consequence — privations that are certain to swell the bills of mortality; since comfort, with wholesome
and sufiicient food, are as necessary to preserve the health of the lower as of the middling and upper
classes of society, in that improved condition which the two latter at present so remarkably exhibit.
The fall in the price of goods has been accompanied by a fall in wages ; the latter in a greater degree than
Males
1538
1343
1169
988
Females
1444
1268
1056
995
Males
1711
1436
1262
1018
Females
1582
1334
1157
1073
60 to 70.
70 to 80.
80 to so.
90 to 100. una
•bore.
447 6
221-9
56-25
4-15 -12
4580
228 2
64-85
5-75 -22
343-8
1541
38 92
3-01 14
351-1
167-6
40 70
3-71 17
* Soath of Morecombe Bejrt ^^X cxelvslTe of UTCfpool end Menehcitcr : aorth of Morecombe Bey tbe retvrae of the RcBiitnr'Senenl are
minified with other couniiei end dlitfictt.
XXX
ENOLANi) IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY:
any improred mode of nianufiietur«» or reduction in the price of the raw material would cause ; for
to these causes a glut of the markets must be added, and consequent reaction. The task that once
occupied half a day, now occupies the whole, for inferior wages. It may afford some idea of the fall in
the price of goods to state, that yarn, in forty-sii years, fell in price thirteen times its first value; and
the inference of this fall hating an effect upon wages is irresistible.
The character of the diseases in Lancashire does not appear to differ much from that of other countries,
except perhaps that the ravages of consumption are more considerable. Thus in the metropolis, with a
population of 1,594,890 in 1831, we 6nd 7104 deaths from the above cause; while in Lancashire, with
a population of 1,336,854, in 1831, we 6nd 8505. The following returns, from the Registrar-general's
statement, shew the great prevalence of this disorder in Liverpool, which, with a population noaoj
thousands less than Manchester, exhibits 1762 deaths to 1454 in the last-named town. By the officiai
document above mentioned for 1839, we are enabled to class the diseases of Laooashire^ south of the
Sands, into the three local divisions following, viz. :—
ForULATIO!i
1831
1841
I. Epidemic, Endemic f and
CofUagiotu Diseases,
Of these, small*pox destroyed
Measles
Scarletina
Hooping-cough
Typhus
Diarrhoea
Other classes of these diseases, >
making a total of . • . .3
II. ZHsetuetofa Niervoutcharacier.
Hydrocephalus
Convulsions
Apoplexy
Paralysis
Other diseases of this class, )
making a total of . . . . {
III. Jhteases qf JRe^nreUion,
Quinsey
Pneumonia
Consumption
Asthma
Other disorders of this elass, )
making a total of . • . . J
IV. Orgam of Circulation . .
V. Digestive Organs,
Teething
Gastritis enteritis
With other disorders, nuking )
a totol of )
VL, VII., yill., IX. present >
nearly uniform results . . )
X. Disorders of uncertain sea/.
Inflammation
Dropsy
Debility
Sudden deaili
Total .
Old age
Unknown causes
Violent deaths
Intemperance or starvation
Llterpool.
Manchntcr.
. .
218.223
236.925
. •
223.054
i
262,636
270
408
438
.^
1131
_
496
421
.^
284
—
326
—
358
.i—
416
..•
56
—
123
—
—
2143
—
2985
341
215
1082
_
829
_
91
— .
66
_
80
61
—
—
1698
—
1316
66
19
861
.^
601
1762
_^
1454
__
216
—
239
—
—
2999
—
2447
— .
92
—
89
267
.^
253
—
— .
650
—
166
18
233
_^
160
_
44
—
—
650
—
468
.^
37
240?
38 5
278
9181
383
.^
145
—
718
—
182
38
229
.1^
250
—
55
_
—
769
_- .
377
—
38
i 20 J
302
9223
LaacMldra.
905,501
1.154,628
887
1682
968
1154
1343
245
— 7303
706
3000
274
303
— 4711
109
1269
5289
568
835
465
422
737
1591
151
J 977
1 26
!
7645
147
1986
719
3381
1873
668
1003
29436
LANCASHIRE. XXXI
POOR LAW UNIONS AND PAROCHIAL STATISTICS.
The parishes ire here given, arranged under their Unions. The market towns are printed in small capitals.
The letter A preceding, denotes an assize town; the sign IT. a pulling place for members of parliament;
ports with a custom-house $ ; and q. s. quarter sessions ; with b. g. t. for borough quarter sessions. The days of
the week on which the markets are held, are marked in Capital Letters — ^tbe places not so marked do not
possess charters.*
The total expenditure for the relief of the poor and other charges in this county, in 1834, with a popula-
tion of 1,336,854, was 334,069/. In 1840, with a presumed population of 1,636,244, it amounted to
278,864/. ; which reckoning from the population of 1831, was 3<. 9d. per head in 1834; and 3s. Id. in 1840 ;
but this last sum considered with relation to the increased state of the population in 1840, admits of further
reduction.
ASHTON-UNDER-LINE UNION.
NAMB8 OF PAKISHRS
OR township:}.
1. ASHTON-UNDBB- LiKB ....
2. Droylesden
3. Denton
4. Haughton
In Cheshire:
5. Duckingfield
6. Staylet
7. Newton
8. Godley
9. Hattersley
10. Mottram
11. IVlatley
12. Hollingworth
13. Tintwistle
Total
H
£.
33,736
4955
3195
2449
9859
.3060
2063
1320
976
2349
951
2665
3786
71,364
5307 6
363
459 16
348 9
1379 1
350 1
562 9
117 13
123 5
261 10
90 3
179 18
255 11
9798 2
e
e
1801.
No
6
1
No.
15,632
1562
1
1362
1
1139
3
1737
1
1055
2
1006
1
270
1
455
1
948
1
286
1
910
1
20
1021
27,371
POPULATION.
1811.
1821.
N(n No.
19,052 26,967
2201 2856
1594
1526
3053
1104
1495
451
473
1446
311!
1089
1346
2012
2084
5096
1609
2159
514
563
1944
324
1393
1580
35,131 48.100
1831.
No.
33,697
2996
2792
2914
14,681
2440
5997
636
477
2144
262
1760
1820
72,616
1841.
No.
46,304
4933
3440
3319
22.394
3906
7601
1399
610
3247
251
2012
1744
101069
SI
•822
S^
£.
2606
333
201
226
564
469
89
189
103
329
83
278
141
5690
A ret
in
AcreB.
A«i>s
9300
1400
1630
1130
1690
2760
800
600
1190
96(>
770
2130
17,060
41,410
BLACKBURN UNION.
1. Blackburn
2. Mellor
3. Balderstone
4. Clayton-le-Dale
5. Osbaldeston
6. Ramsgrave
7. Over Darwen
8. Lower Darwen
9. Eccleshill
10. Yate and Pickup Bank...
11. Billington
12. Salisbury
13. Dinkley
14. Wilpshire
15. Rishton
16. Great Harwood
17. Little Harwood
18. Clayton-le-Moors
19. Oswaldwistle
20. Church-Town
21. Livesly
22. Pleasington
23. Tockholes
24. Witton
Total
37,768
3127
2705
2436
1670
1492
6629
4328
1048
1381
3407
1608
768
1294
2684
4806
1414
1999
7798
996
3971
2474
2638
•2302
100632
5655
15
6
419
19
311
6
266
17
89
9
177
9
1379
2
2
677
15
220
19
462
13
568
131
5
63
17
102
1
302
6
876
18
116
3
384
4
1918
4
345
523
4
253
11
341
9
239
10
29
15,616
14
1 1,980
. 1439
616
419
252
298
3587
1646
346
1045;
844
236
197
275
1061
1669
104
1130
2710
323
1184
614
758
461
33,173
16,083
21,940
27,091
36,629
1548
1981
2071
1844
636
705
658
686
620
598
561
511
278
319
349
289
484
534
516
453
4411
6711
6972
9348
1806
2238
2667
3077
374
456
716
610
1230
1369
1209
1068
893
922
1089
988
295
427
433
399
250
238
223
183
291
287
337
281
1084
1170
919
917
1676
2104
2436
2273
126
201
341
322
1423
1963
2171
2602
3612
4960
6897
6655
474
762
979
1645
1126
1664
1787
1996
599
625
633
617
1077
1269
1124
1023
819
1067
1047
1073
40.014
54.490
62,214
75.088
2939
374
456
286
134
198
2107
764
280
449
492
120
54
114
266
678
111
4400
1372
104
406
338
327
320
3610
1830
1710
960
980
112c
6010
2490
820
1360
2960
1160
600
940
2760
2510
730
960
4770
620
1890
1600
2050
650
16,978,43,960
* The poit lowni to ilie differeDt parishes will be Tonnd under the head of Benefice* in the last column.
XXXIl
ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTIRT I
BOLTON UNION.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
NAMES OP PARISHES
OR TOWNSHIPS.
1. Great Bolton, M,b,q.t.
2. Little BoltOD
3. Bradshaw
4. Breightmet
5. Edgworth >
6. Eotwistle
7. Harwood
8. Darcey LevtT
9. Little Lever
10. Great Lever
11. LoDgworth
12. Lostock
13. Quarllon
14. Sharpies
15. ToQge with Haulgh .....
16. Turton
Farnworth
Heaton
Little HultoQ or Hilton...
Middle Halton
Over HultoD
Horwich
Halliwell
24. Kearaley
25. Humworth
26. West HoughtoD
Total
< O
3S
JS mm
?-
at
£.
27.887
11,747
2166
2307
2989
1684
2492
1378
2611
2966
645
1668
1327
3228
2632
4193
2758
2353
3823
2014
2125
5766
4139
1600
1805
7337
105540
£. «.
6716 7
1502
324
193 15
229 7
108 6
357 9
311 8
no relurn.
339 4
106 10
207 2
56 1
296 14
399 17
449 14
601 9
236 1
392 16
251 11
231 14
355 9
791 12
269 18
235 14
947 13
m
•5
•J
O
No
5
3
14,931 11 ;33
POPULATION.
1801.
No.
12,549
4867
380
734
1003
447
1281
589
1276
398
249
509
238
873
1158
1369
1439
677
149H
819
619
1565
1385
1082
700
3059
1811.
No.
17,070
7079
582
852
1302
571
1430
792
1586
613
226
540
295
1374
1402
1782
1798
76.:
1880
900
612
2374
1828
1388
768
3810
1821.
No.
22,037
9258
713
963
1729
677
1809
956
1854
631
238
576
320
2065
1678
2090
2044
826
2465
938
591
2873
2288
1833
847
4211
40,763 53,625,66.510
1831.
No.
28,299
12,896
773
1026
2168
701
2011
1119
2231
637
179
606
376
2589
2201
2563
2928
719
2981
934
538
3562
2963
2705
1164
4500
1841.
83,369
No.
33,610
16,153
827
1309
1697
555
1996
1700
2580
657
149
625
370
2880
2627
3577
4829
713
3052
902
445
3773
3242
3436
1298
4527
97,529
9
'I
£.
7909
7710
184
156
121
126
280
322
240
255
56
276
169
247
315
481
461
361
290i
518
319
566
641
178
257
1342
23.780
Area
is
Acres,
Acres.
820
1450
1380
970
2480
1450
1100
540
1020
770
1590
1170
500
3920
1030
4110
1450
1630
1470
1280
1300
3230
2320
900
1300
4460
^^ _______
43.640
BURNLEY UNION.
1.
2.
3.
4,
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
.... •.. • •
BURMLXY, M. S,
COLNE, IV.
Brierscliffe with Extwistle
Cliviger
Foulridee
Habergbam Eves
Hapton
lleyhouses
Huncoat
Ightenhill Park ..
G reat a nd LittleM andeo <
Padiham
Barley wttAWheatle} Booth
Barrow/ord Booth ,
Goldshaw Booth
HighamtPt^A WestClosel
Booth J
Old Laund Booth
Reedly Hollows, etc
Rough Lee Booth
W heatley Carr Booth ....
21. Dunnockshaw
22. Read
23. Stroonttone
24. Trawden
25. W orsthorn with H urstwood
26. Altham
Iota I.
8273
8552
2933
5110
3211
7351
3057
393
1583
920
4050
3266
4059
1262
3687
1801
2214
668
1534
1651
Lower
Booth
1598
957
4444
1664
2975
77.193
}
1929
2652
785
663
854
1204
201
38
1.39
109
10
7
2
4
11
14
9
3
4
14
2017 10
794
299
994
214
17
16
19
6
207 12
}
129
232
388
50
13
4
8
6
10 6
193
169
432
241
210
1
13
7
4
15.164
3
3305
3
3626
956
1058
833
2
1919
'
395
156
126
2
2322
2
2118
528
1224
516
583
287
408
684
42
51
311
298
1443
443
328
33
23.960
4368
5336
1220
1193
1032
2839
533
145
514
107
2876
2556
566
1721
626
742
316
415
796
65
63
419
336
1941
309
383
{
6378
7551
7274
8080
1407
1755
1314
1598
1307
1418
4612
5817
568
583
187
155
629
502
208
164
1893
1971
2052
2742
3060
3529
765
707
2U8
2633
819
763
891
1038
390
476
422
468
958
949
69
58
76
46
510
510
396
440
2507
28:3
631
798
439
413
10,699
8615
1498
1395
1458
8526
541
156
467
158
1987
3171
3789
686
2630
748
960
481
412
782
53
41
467
416
2900
817
349
41 930 48,017 54,202
}
19b9
1810
648
773
657
717
35h
29
155
82
1119
928
433
430
296
251
95
257
291
61
{Lowrr
KtKMh
254
167
879
314
181
13.162
1630
8050
4180
6160
2020
3910
3570
320
960
690
f2S90
X1470
1708
2370
1540
980
1400
410
1360
1320
200
}
350
1490
900
2510
2800
1160
56,348
LANCASHIRE.
XXXlll
BURY UNION.
NAMES OP PARISHES
OR TOWNSHIPS.
1. Bury, Sat
2. ElloD
3. Tottington Lower End....
4. Walmersley
5. PilkingtOD
6. Radcliffe
7. Ainsworth
8. Heap ,
9. Birtle cum Bam ford ....,
10. Ashworth ,
11. PilsworLh ,
12. Hopwood
les
£.
16,545
6287
8983
5821
12,654
4382
2213
8829
2025
824
1707
2256
IS
Total 72,426 10.685 5
£. 9.
2648 19
594 5
1161 1
524 6
1932 6
890 17
359 5
1588 17
222 10
83 16
205 19
473 4
9
c
No
5
2
3
2
3
2
1
3
1
1
1
1
POPULATION.
1801.
No.
7072
2080
4314
2166
5786
2497
1240
4285
753
295
418
948
1811
No.
8762
2540
5917
2619
7353
2792
1422
5148
1055
261
454
1383
1821.
No.
10,583
2897
73331
3199i
8976
3089
1609
6552
1207
280
499
1384
1831.
No.
15,086
4054
9280
3456
11.006
3904
1584
10,429
1650
294
443
1413
1841.
25 31,854 39.706 47.699 62,599 77,497 7686 31,030
No.
20,710
5202
9929,
4880l
11,186'
50991
1598
14,856
1753
325
414
1545
Area
in
Acres.
£.
1088'
550l
943,
432
1194;
820!
247i
886;
149
40
257
480
Acres
2370
1990
6330
3090
5320
2880
1090
2240
1480
730
1330
2180
CHORLEY UNION.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
II.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
Chorlby, Tu, SeU,
Heapey
Charnock Richard .
Welsh WhitUe ....
Coppul
Duxbary
Leyland
Euxton
Whittle-le- Woods.
Cuerdeu
Brindle ,
HoghtOD ,
Withnell
Wheelton
Clay ton-le- W oods . .
Rivington...
Anglezark
Adlington
Anderton
Charnock Heath . ..
Croston
Eccleston
Ulnes Walton
Heskin
Brethenon ..,
Mawdesley
TOTAI
16,771
1754
3690
1339
4644
2107
10,151
5813
5291
1583
4567
5281
3104
2576
2943
2650
975
2586
2320
2769
6216
5066
4230
2439
4851
5585
111291
1786 19
193 11
198 2
81 16
212 12
132 17
911 3
271 14
308 4
174 7
427 16
397 9
334 7
331 2
228 12
235 2
107
205
147
174
477
324
359
155 16
256 8
282 17
7
7
9
3
4
3
6
8715 13
28
4316
341
587
127
832
255
2088
831
1325
519
1271
1301
765
583
706
519
162
470
354!
665!
915
489
453
249
667
659
51821
428
668
144
927
305
2646
1193
1699
573
1425
1698
1049
884
730
526
181
640
408
556
1211
566
529
309
653
744
7515'
530'
794'
15l!
1017
312
3173
1360
2083
569
1574
2111
1146
1186
861
583
215
1043
434
823
1367
727
537
274
748
833
21,249 25,874 31,966
9282
465
755
147
908
213
3404
1581
2015
592
1558
2198
1251
1519
926
537
168
1082
343
841]
1398.
761
501
324
828
886
13,139
496
784
149
1031
371
3569
1562
2295
573
1401
1706
1705
1331
795
471
164
1130
339
1062
1456
771
477
359
833
867
34,483 38,836
1367
174
198
58
246
157
452
483
541
137
769
382
275
260
196
275
102
199
179
265
395
291
367
with
192
3110
730
2070
530
2180
1090
3450
2480
1400
930
2940
1670
4700
1220
1370
2630
2570
990
1110
1560
2390
2320
2090
Eccles.
2360
3340
7960 51,230
CHORLTON UNION.
1. ChorltoD-upon- Med lock .
2. Ardwick
3. Hulme
4. Stretford
5. Mosside
6. Levenshulme
7. Rushulme .«
8. DJdsbury
9. Withington
10. Gorton
11. Burnase
12. Opensnaw
13. Chorlton wt^A Hardy
14. Barton on Irwell
15. Flixton
16. Urmston
Total
19,830
11,241
9422
7076
1505
2345
3608
3803
5008
4658
1752
1771
2945
20624
4:386
2674
102648
3128
3
5
1418
11
2
1755
1
3
1077
16
110
15
296
10
412
1
351
12
298
11
527
19
84
8
161
16
274
12
2496
5
2
487
336
10
24
13,166
10
675
1762
1677
1477
150
628
726
619
743
1127
383
339
513
6197
1093
532
18.641
2581
2763
3081
1720
156
674
796
738
911
1183
454
459
619
6948
13h7
595
25.065
8209[
3545'
4234,
2173
172
768
913
933
892
1604
513
497
624
7977
1604
645
35,303
20569
5524
9624
2463
208
1086
1078
1067
1048-
2623
507
638
668
8976;
1393
706
28,336
9906
26,982
3524
436
1231
1868
1248
1277
2422
489
2280
632
10,865
1459
771
58,378 93.726
I
7
925
435
898
498
67
279
209
190
152
203
108
107
130
1330
871
147
700
470
440
3040
330
1050
1040
1560
2420
1350
610
610
1400
10530
1750
960
6549^28,260
XXXIV
E^GLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY;
CLITHERO UNION.
NAME.S OF PARISHES
OR TOWNSHIPS.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
•24.
26.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
Cl.ITHBROt Sat
Chatburn
Downham
Mearley ,
Mitton-Little ,
Pendleton ,
Twiaton ,
Whalley
Wiswell
WorstOD
Chipping
Thorneley with Wheatley
Little Bowland, etc
Aighton Bailey, etc
In Yorkshire:
Gisbum, York
Horton
Middop
Rireniington
Paythorne
Newsholnie
Gisburn Forest
Bolton 6yBowland
Sawley
Slaidburn
Kasington
Newton
BowJand Forest { J^^^^j
Bashall Eavee
Waddington
West Bradford
Grindleton
Mition
Total
J;;
5o
C
5359'
1584
1669
728
1028
2754
659
2627
1135
1058
4449
2436
2924
5084
4260
2631
1078
2861
1686
1218
2257
6249
1759
3997
4517
4597
2847
3743
3777
2423
1964
4906
2602
92,866
£.
940
207
192
33
70
267
67
316
213
54
378
145
221
622
a.
10
11
9
12
2
16
16
11
13
7
2
11
14
4
321 4
185 12
107 10
265 15
203
70 6
170 13
444 9
277
263
314
299
9
7
6
No
3
159 15\
187 4/
246 5
160
218 19
380 2
99 16
8106 10
POPULATION.
1801.
No.
1368
415
470
75
76
914
189
876
349
128
827
387
318
1260
485
144
87
487
198
78
396
996
438
631
376
378
523
552
481
927
34, 14,829
1811. ; 1831.
No.
1767
481
537
75
76
930
215
1004
488
157
1007
433
328
1296
509
181
95
596
240
70
439
1072
489
758
451
498
468
358
10B8
1022
254
No.
3213
552
620
89
99
1319
236
1058
683
178
1229
606
370
1487
690
187
100
698
242
75
457
1205
490
904
501
581
237
360
348
687
564
1125
324
1831.
{
No.
5213
591
552
63
70
1205
222
1151
724
129
1334
516
288
1980
607
200
62
701
187
70
400
1174
499
920
424
544
177
344
310
624
522
1103
262
1841
No.
6765
500
368
53
74
1469
199j
1010
776
111
1168
507
273
1798
643
156
81
722
201
55
372
933
479
741
409
461
181
330
279
644
366
902
212
17.382 21.414.23.168 23,137
« m
m
£.
491
261
169
33
34
133
197
170
203
63
227
229
222
776
667
150
77
329
293
44
230
defects
232
302
314
297
197
249
269
217
250
485
88
Acm.
2410
720
1870
1280
1450
2800
1030
1690
UIO
860
6010
2960
7960
6780
2010
1780
1090
3090
2850
780
463U
4940
2980
3880
11740
2140
7878
17800
3640
180^)
1700
3760
1450
110710
FYLDE UNION.
1. PoULTONlNTMlpYLDK.if.
2. Carleton
3. Hard born wilh Newton ...
4. Marton ,
5 Thornton
6. Bispham with Norbreck...
7. Layton
8. Singleton
9. Weeton & Mylhop wUh\
Preese j
1 0. W estby wiih PI um pton . . .
11. Ribby wifA Wray
12. Lytham
13. Bryning tt^A Kellayniargh
14. Greenbalghf(;i<AThi8tleloD
16. Treales, Koseacre, and^
Wharlea /
16. Medlar itfiMWesham
17. KiaiHAM, Tu
18. Freckleton
19. Newton wicA Scales
20. Warton
21. Clifton tM<A Salwich
22. Little EcclestoD
23. Elswick
3999
4161
5970
6716
9179
3177
4439
5117
4586
6618
1905
6944
1402
3151
6118
3452
6448
3063
2746
2901
6874
2241
2315
241
150 4
260 11
489 10
481 6
176 8
223 9
231 8
198 4
318 10
121 10
353 17
128 17
207 2
280 19
164 9
104 18
274 8
90 4
162
363 3
104 18
96 14
769
269
311
972
617
254
473
325
384
623
307
920
105
378
676
216
1661
561
269
376
652
178
232
926
308
329
1093
739
297
680
396
608
692
398
1150
131
403
671
230
2214
701
336
445
676
199
266
Total 101522
6202 8 26 ll,327j 13,677 16,760
1011
3.'i6
392
1397
876
323
749
601
473
771
500
1292
145
419
760
215
2735
875
380
468
608
224
290
1025
319
409
1487
842
313
943
499
477
6P.6
482
1523
164
408
756
242
2469
909
381
531
508
230
327
16,930
1128
378
358
1662
3647
371
1968
391
646
643
442
2082
152
371
709
209
2903
995
324
622
638
199
303
213
132
210
631
654
116
268
297
324
524
164
263
86
167
337
95
639
217
138
260
401
114
86
20,940: 6003
J 150
1960
2200
4890
6180
1490
2000
2360
2640
3310
1210
5240
1040
2270
4100
1900
860
1430
1660
1360
3010
1210
1010
63,380
LANCASHIRE.
XXXV
GARSTANG UNION.
NAMES OP PARISHES
OR TOWNSHIPS.
Annoal Value
of Property,
1815.
Parochial
Rate*, 1838.
a
"S
le
o
o
No
2
24
POPULATION.
•
I?
Area
in
Acrea.
1801.
1811.
1821.
1831.
1841.
1. Garstano. Th
£.
2209
4484
1426
2198
2615
4824
691
2148
373
2778
2142
4947
3158
3337
1642
5016
4362
4167
2345
2086
3559
2827
3793
£.
222
228
63
148
262
209
84
178
17
288
172
536
145
283
95
169
403
283
216
227
308
179
213
$.
17
13
6
19
5
8
1
11
12
2
12
1
11
11
11
4
17
14
2
13
1
12
No.
731
474
163
246
560
784
145
402
31
426
272
718
243
671
220
464
494
530
418
252
413
455
635
No.
791
497
178
253
546
735
113
482
38
451
296
840
264
713
225
459
617
589
439
273
484
540
647
No.
936
548
209
277
704
943
148
587
43
411
406
1043
248
800
212
557
643
700
507
338
598
648
739
No.
929
519
199
267
457
842
140
662
50
458
232
1127
275
770
236
510
665
745
504
334
575
624
798
No.
909
628
157
253
1102
772
124
679
35
408
341
1232
257
762
249
504
671
947
504
349
728
661
735
216
290
73
188
279
116
108
293
33
243
249
686
138
279
227
166
444
214
167
198
320
181
261
Acrps.
50)
2. Barnacre vfUh Bonds
3. Bilsboroucrh
a880
750
4. Cabus
1220
1490
3300
530
1280
330
1050
1210
5350
2050
3640
8490
2740
4030
2580
1610
1230
4160
1590
2540
5. Catterall
6. Clauehton
7. Clevelev
8. Forton.....
9. Holleth
10. Kirkland
11. Natebv
12. Pilline
13. WiDinarleieh
14. Nether Wversdale
15. Bleasdale
16. Alverscoueh
17. Upper Rawcliffe with \
Tarnicar /
18. Preesall with Hackensali.
19. Stalmine with Stanall . ...
20. Hambleton
21, Out Rawcliif
22. Great EcclestOD
23. Sowerby with I nskip
Total
67,12?
4938
3
9647
10,470
12,245
11,918
13,007
5369
55,550
HASLINGDEN UNION.
1. Ha8LXNG0BN, iS^.
2. HeDheads <
3. Higher Booth
4. Lower Booth
5. Old AccriDgton
6. New Accrington
7. New Church ^
8. Coupe, Lench, New Hall ^
Hay, and Hall Car... J
9. Tottington Higher End...
10. Musbury
Total
8486
Lower
Booth.
5096
3187
1511
4097
8636
4283
1299
36.595
1352 7
41 12
776 17
362 15
217 15
645 19
1110 6
250 12
592 14
108 19
5458 15
4
4040
5127
6595
7776
1
122
195
246
202
2
1
1
3
1661
934
831
2246
2568
1)78
885
2381
3172
1513
1261
4109
4347
2178
1323
4960
3
1
5046
676
6930
787
8657
1214
9196
1519
1
1
18
1246
463
1556
589
1728
728
2572
1231
17.265
22,196
29,123
36.304
8063
176
3f>52
2464
1811
6908
11668
1716
3446
1386'
1656
42
620
253
170
520
1224
210
286
114
41,290, 5095
4420
C Lower
j Booth.
2000
630
740
2480
9650
1260
3790
1170
26,140
LEIGH UNION.
1. West Lbich
2. Ty]den]eyvnth Shakerley
3 Lowton
4. Atherton
5. Bedford
6. FanniDgtoD
7. Culcheth
8. Aetley
Total
5586
6744
4484
7558
6094
5535
7475
4059
47,536
437 7
2
856 18
3
597 17
2
1123
3
650 10
2
670 16
2
890 16
2
660 2
2
18
6787 6
1429
1960
2408
3009
3492
4325
1402
1647
1988
3249
3894
4145
1895
2372
2830
1759
2124
2782
1833
2117
2163
1545
1723
1882
22.523
16,121
19,329
2780
3005
324
5038
4718
1149
2374
2150
718
4181
4475
1315
3087
4187
522
3165
3833
747
2503
2193
631
1832
2011
629
24.960
26,572
6035
2030
2610
1680
2220
1750
1090
6330
2120
18,830
XXXVl
ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY!
OLDHAM UNION.
NAMES OP PARISHES
OR TOWNSHIPS.
Oldham....
Cronipton ..
Chaduerton,
Royton ...,,
Thornham .,
MiDDLElON
Tonj»e.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8. Alkrington
Total
£
31,423
7036
7321
8797
2742
54571
881
1436
65,05)3
£.
3ft21
903
8H0
717
267
795
165
94
POPULATION.
2
7
15
15
2
7
18
1801.
No
6
3
3
3
1
3
1
1
N«>.
12,024
3482
3452
2719
674
3266
711
319
1811.
No.
16,690
4746
4133
3910
1098
4422
1126
349
1821.
No.
21,662
6482
5124
4933
1374
5089
1390
365
1831.
No.
32,381
7004
5476
5652
1455
6903
1800
367
7445 6 121 26.646 36.474 46.419,61,038 72,408
1841.
No.
42,595
6729
6397
5730
1456
•^740
2423
338
£.
3788
650
714
775
365
775
354
110
Area
in
Acres.
Acrei.
4640
2290
3020
1210
2070
1860
310
660
7531
16,080
ORMSKIRK UNION.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
U.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
% Ormskikx, Tu.
Latham
DickerstafTe
Skeltnersdale
burscough
Scarisbrick
Aughton
Halsall
Down Holland ...
Lydiate
]\la«;hull
Mt'lling
Simonswood
llesketh with Becousall
Tarleton
Rufford
North Meuls
Birkdale
Formby
Allcar....:
Uispham
Total
7615
14,267
6776
2691
9142
11,954
8730
8340
4772
3465
3797
4008
1575
1675
6704
4401
7219
4201
3893
173(i
116961
1
824
1125
531
205
779
717
438
511
333
127
289
236
133
155
5H0
452
1263
98
424
172
114
1
1
4
3
19
14
19
14
14
18
2
17
14
16
6
12
5
10
6
8
16
9516 19
3 2554!
2179!
811j
414|
1139
1154
987
751
482
532
534
402
274
353'
1116
853
2096
1045
271
172
24
3064
2514
911
541
1492
1386
1032
781
552
614
699
471
364
347
1281
998
2496
391
1101
408
242
3838
2997
1212
622
1755
1584
1279
970
629
691
720
528
390
476
1616
1073
2763
414
1257
499
254
18,119 21,585 25,567
4251
3272
1309
676
2244
1783
1462
1169
704
770
967
659
411
523
1886
869
6132
618
1312
.W5
266
30,568
4891
3262
1679
691
2228
1957
1660
1218
740
848
1032
607
493
653
1877
866
7774
557
1446
490
306
34,975
357i
601
296
195
330
250
266
189
177
269
117
122
103
234
620
275
708
68
282
112
70
600
8490
6860
1741
4340
7990
4410
6320
3-290
1940
1930
2000
2810
1680
6230
2840
8460
2130
2460
3.580
850
6611
78,831
PRESCOT UNION.
1. pREscoT, Tu. and ....\
St. Helens, S. j
2. Bold
3. Cronton
4. Dillon
5. Eccleston
6. Parr
7. Rainford
8. Rainhill
9. Sutton
10. Whiston
11. VVidnes wiM Appleton ...
12. Windle
13. Huyton
14. Knowsley
15. Tarbock
16. Roby
17. Hale
18. Halewood ,
19. Speke
20. Much Woolton
21. Little Woolton
Total
5707
6572
191f)
3984
9309
6134
7163
4595
11708
8407
4942
14534
8428
8061
3427
2561
6190
4712
3764
3690
126804
1067 6
453
203 17
250 6
657 18
506 1
713 9
276 4
1294 11
521 17
470 10
1163 16
424 14
234 7
329
137 4
362 9
174
384 1
205 16
9830 4
3
3465
713
311
401
2
13»)2
1183
1IH5
402
2
1776
1031
1063
3
3252
1
862
739
412
637
777
374
439
27
419
20,703
3678
773
334
422
1584
1405
1315
645
2114
1016
1204
4294
955
913
634
627
903
409
601
628
24,063
4468
818
358
455
1931
1523
1375
640
2329
1306
1439
4820
863
1174
699
310
630
934
462
970
673
28,177
60651
866'
293.
466
3259
1942
1642
679
3173
1468
1986
6825
1094
1162
756
401 !
572
930
614
1344
734
34,160
6451
712
402
613
6247
3310
1865
1164
4096
1686
2209
6918
1263
1302
740
444
646
1101
648
2216
1018
43,739
771
332
118
99
621
323
328
232
1666
694
483
989
307
283
169
171
321
180
324
106
8366
240
3910
1000
1740
3480
1360
6680
1700
3360
1760
2970
3640
1630
4760
2360
989
1410
3460
2360
810
1200
49,679
LANCASHIRE.
XXXV 11
PRESTON UNION.
NAMES OF PARISHES
OR TOWNSHIPS.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
3^
*« £x
•5^
Jz<x.
"•<2
Preston, q. s,% W. F. S.
Barton
Broughton
£l8tOll.
Fishwick •
Grimsargh and Brock holes
HaightOQ
Lea, AshtODy Ingol, andl
Cottam /
Ribbleton
Wood PlamptoD
Lower Darwen
Fulwood
Walton-le-Dale
Cuerdale
Samlesbury
Farington
Penwortham
Howick
HuttoD
LoDgton
Little Hoole
Much Hoole
Whittingham
Hathersall unth
Alston
Ribchester
Dutton
Dilworth
Goosnargh ,
}
Total
£
35.136
3795
4526
1204
1730
2510
1799
7337
1716
7429
2620
13,075
1280
4919
2963
6503
1228
5056
4404
1491
3119
4873
4357
4340
1961
2229
10,508
142108
£. «.
7808 5
301 6
212 3
24 16
194 1
57 11
62 2
370 13
49 11
416 7
168 2
1449 15
94 18
834 9
277 17
817 4
47 17
362 13
450 17
80 7
188 12
209 7
r 65 1
I 212 7
483 11
261 13
135
688 4
or
5
No
6
16,324 9
35
•
POPULATION.
'1
1801.
1811.
1821.
1831.
No.
1841.
No.
No.
No.
No.
£.
11,887
17,065
24,575
33,112
50.131
9354
348
344
414
422
413
172
545
548
615
620
695
221
58
59
76
64
56
55
287
295
284
759
756
157
262
279
343
310
331
112
167
193
184
192
212
91
594
590
658
687
710
426
152
155
151
170
178
66
1197
1397
1635
1719
1688
384
396
401
430
500
628
146
3832
4776
5740
5767
6659
1149
170
159
166
118
106
143
1664
1589
1979
1948
1728
710
382
497
513
672
1719
266
1049
1243
1501
1416
1372
390
112
123
136
132
125
71
462
507
613
715
563
367
904
1340
1791
1744
1719
703
179
225
216
189
204
123
417
519
644
745
785
427
529
587
661
710
691
270
664
782
948
1030
976
248
1172
1461
1760
1889
1727
737
388
440
521
490
563
342
524
861
969
874
845
243
1558
1562
1852
1844
1621
708
29,899
38,009
49,375
58,838
77,201
18,081
Area
in
Acret.
Acres.
1960
1510
2570
970
600
1830
1050
3120
620
4600
1780
4590
500
4270
1940
2120
500
206U
2970
1090
1410
3070
2790
4770
\Rib-
jcheatr
9290
61,980
* There appears to be an error in the parliamentary return: Ix>wer Darwen is in the Union of Blackbam,
for which Dilworth appears to be there snbstitoled t we have so placed it.
ROCHDALE UNION.
1. K0CHDALR,t IT Tu
2. Spotland, Whitworth
3. Castleton •••
4. Blatchinworth&Calder-^
brook /
5. Butterworth
6. Wardleworth
7. Wuerdale and Wardle ...
Total
21,901
13,515
4892
8247
9651
8194
66.400
2643 19
2134 8
521 18
1332 5
1207 16
815 1
8655 7
5
4
2
4
2
19
9031
5460
1647
3930
3298
3220
26,586
10,968
6723
2480
4872
4345
4189
13.453
7894
3143
5554
6451
5629
33,577 42»124
15,325
11.079
4221
5648
9360
6754
52,387
18,480
14,279
4456
5088
11,400
6875
60,578
1756 >
1741
452
1153
625
882
6609
i For Area of this Parish, see Table of Parishes with Benefices.
TODMORDEN UNION.
1. TODMORDBN & WaLSDBN
County ofYork^West Riding
2. Stansfield
3. Wadsworth
4. Heptonstall
5. Lang6eld
6. Erringden
Total
5547
7639
4425
4439
2361
2533
26,944
613
1159 16
918 17
488 18
249 2
414 12
3844 5
4
2515
3652
4985
6054
7311
582
4
4768
5447
7275
8262
8466
1238
3
2801
3472
4509
5198
5583
683
3
2983
3649
4543
4661
4791
404
2
1170
1515
2069
2514
3284
360
2
18
1313
1581
1471
1933
2221
361
15,550
19,316
24,852
28,622
31,656
3628
\Roch.
J dale.
5920
10,080
5320
2620
2980
26,920
XXXVlll
ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY :
WARRINGTON UNION.
NAMES OF PARISHES
OR TOWNSUll'ft.
< »
}
1. Warrington, IT.
2. BurtoDwood
3. Poullon tot^A Fernhead ...
4. RixtoQ u't<A Glazebrook..
5. Woolfton with Mar-
tinscrofts
6. Winwick
7. Golborne
8. Haydock
9. Hough toD. MiddlelowD,'\
and Arbury J
10. KeDyon
11. NsWTONinMACRF.PIELDf $
12. South v»orth and Croft
13. Great Sankey
14. Penketh
15. Cuerdley
Total
11
u
POPULATION.
£.
29,069
6354
3448
4096
2727
4291
3666
5375
1552
2270
6202
3486
3729
2071
3208
£. 9.
4649 5
440 6
316 10
342 5
274 16
238 7
5<M) 16
227 14
119 2
236 13
569
346 1
279 16
190 8
126 2
1 s
1801.
No
N«.
4 10.567
773
417
881
542
673
962
734
295
384
1455
956
431
1 326
251
18 19 547
1
1811.
1821.
No.
No.
11.738
868
560 631
886 990
562 596
670 602
1111 1310
805 916
273 280
415' 396
1589J 1643
1916| 1357
466, 551
3411 477
2481 321
22,348 24,551
1831.
13.570 16 018
911
No. No.
18,981
944i 836
705! 693
906 843
678
603
1532
934
286
349
2139
1329
663
548
319
548
645
1657
1296
£.
3887
414
XfTt%
4-260
236i 1070
344 2850
291 1490
202 1410
431 1340
276 20901
2931 162
27,753
323
3126J
1155
567
652
221
620
168 1660
468. 3070
279- 1950
1811 2Uti0
175 690>
122
1420!
31.736, 7636 28,650;
WEST DERBY UNION.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
Weit Derby
Bootle-cum-Lioacre
EvertoD
Fazakerley
Kirkby
Kirkdale, q. $
Walton on-the-Hill
Aintree
Great Crossby
Little Crossby
Ince Blundell
Litberland
Lunt
Netherton
Orrell and Ford
Sepbtou or Sef^n ..
Thornton
Toxteth Park
Childwall
Allerton
Garston
Wavertree
•••••••
Total
37,021
4197
9721
4166
4651
4693
9425
1222
3237
2480
4428
2251
SephtOD
S«phton
1281
1997
1796
27,433
2336
4836
6270
9561
142002
2741
5
3
336
9
1
2469
12
2
237
4
418
8
486
4
2
452
16
101
12
295
7
100
6
178
9
182
14
64
17
73
2
76
4
187
19
120
8
2829
14
5
128
2
160
6
443
9
454
7
12,538
14
30
2636
637
499
272
833
393
681
538
425
317
418
483
230
2069
152
178
458
860
3698
610
913
329
912
665
794
238
499
353
413
362
65
180
146
357
239
6864
162
258
597
1398
19,052
6304
808
2109
418
1035
1273
1171
260
674
359
472
601
75
186
217
389
300
12,829
127
328
874
1620
32,329
9613
1133
4518
407
1190
2591
1400
247
1201
414
605
789
67
273
244
403
342
24,067
159
374
1147
1932
53,016
16,864
1962
9221
428
1476
4268J
1759'
311|
1946
394
628
1686
69
289
296
430
326
41,296
186
443
1888
2669
868
126
272
103
199
281
473
56
101
77
93
66
Sepbtoa
SepbloB
47
250|
67
1004
61
56
205
211
88,623
6500
1050
600'
1860;
4010
740,'
2230
840
1900,
1750;
2248!
1050
430
708
470
880
700
2400
880
1410
1680
1390
4586. 35,726
WIGAN UNION.
1. WiOAK, F, b. q, t. S
2. Billinge, Chapel End ....
3. Billinge Higher End...
4. Daiton.....
6. Upholland
6. Aspull
7. Haigh
8. Blackrod
Canied forward...
33,200
3523 7
5
10,988
14,060
17.716
20,774
25,517
3087
2105
321 2
|ll41
/ 765
1002
1279
1660
193
2317
231 2
) 655
670
676
712
218
3477
238 6
352
464
486
468
483
333
9660
586 14
2527
2663
3042
8040
3113
983
3323
414 18
1253
1650
1894
2464
2772
206
6653
343 19
798
1118
1300
1271
1363
253
4618
442 1
12
1623
2111
2436
2591
2616
410
"1683
64,243
6,101 9
18,682
23,386
28,646
32,663
38.125
2170
3140
1400
1930
4180
1930
2050
2660
19i460
LANCASHIRE.
WIGAN UNION— cow/im/^i.
XXXIX
NAMES OP PARISHES
OR TOWNSHIPS.
Broaght forward .
9. Hindley
10. Abram
11. luce
12. Orrell
13. Pemberton
14. Wiastaoley
15. Standish wUh Laoglree.
16. SheviDgton •
17. WorthingtOQ
18. WrightingtoD
19. Parbold
20. AshtOD in Makeifield....
J;;
5 =
u «
m ^
Total
£.
64,243
6000
3339
4593
10,872
7558
3399
8838
3283
1419
7455
2104
16,440
139543
£. 9.
6.101 9
689 19
281 1
571 18
644 7
631 17
343 9
526 6
177 9
35 11
468 5
195 2
981 16
a
■
■5 _.
POPULATION.
o
No
12
2
1
1
2
2
I
I
1
1
1
1
2
11,648 9
1801.
1811. 1821.
28
No.
18,682
2332
475
962
1883
2309
631
1542
646
111
1140
255
3696
34,664
No.
23,386
2962
502
1065
2002
2934
741
1770
726
114
1268
348
4747
No.
28,546
3757
504
1362
2106
3678
800
2065
836
143
1461
339
5674
42,565 51,271
1831.
No.
32,563
4575
511
1903
2518
4276
731
2407
899
124
1601
382
5912
1841.
58,402
No.
38,125
5459
901
2565
2478
4394
681
2565
1122
133
1771
418
54101
66,022
9
.a
.55
hm m,
A
£.
5,683
651
315
460
559
654
331
564
316
79
617
100
1015
Area
in
Acres.
Acres.
19,460
2310
1790
2210
1840
2920
1530
3240
1780
640
3370
1170
5510
11,344 47.770
ULVERSTON UNION.
> rCART-\Allithwaite Low,
'■\ MBLL. J Upper Holker ...
1. Aldiogham
3. A IHthwaite' tipper
4. Blawith
5. East BroughtoD
6. West Broughton .
7. Cartmel Fell
8. Claife
9. Church Coniftton ..
10. CoUoD or Coulton..
11. Dalton in Fumess
12. Dunnerdale w. Seathwaite
13. Egton wUh Newland
fH,
AWKESHEAD, M. %, and
Monk Coniftton with
Skelwith
15. Holker Lower
16. Kirkby Ireleth
17. Lowick
18. Munsriggs
19. Osmotherly
20. Pennington
21. Satterthwaite
22. Siaveley
23. Subbertwaite
24. Torver
25 Ulverston it i •*
26. Urswick
Total
4800
1872
3260
3340
839
2604
5175
2133
1972
1314
1726
4577
1607
2223
1 2532
f 240
4517
15.323
2145
621
1701
2227
1824
2591
960
760
11,708
3130
87,721
}
273 11
410 2
393 18
191 16
64
174 2
334 3
176 5
153 13
191 16
775 2
1113 3
95 1
457 19
384 16
400 13
435 2
137 19
61 5
76
131 5
146 12
213 2
46 11
59 3
1375 15
415 8
2
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
I
1
2
2
1
1
8688 2
35
633
589
882
541
160
319
1005
322
391
338
1516
1355
298
675
/ 634
(^ 286
1039
1041
278
64
218
273
274
315
90
182
2937
633
17.288
720
686
835
567
170
353
966
280
350
460
1524
1671
349
/ 495
\. 374
676
386
931
1079
373
64
237
271
298
287
112
204
3378
568
18,664
760
839
1120
771
190
381
1253
371
452
566
1627
2446
351
470
440
829
426
1091
1343
378
62
264
284
307
350
154
263
4315
787
22.890
884
838
1095
759
171
416
1375
347
463
587
1786
2697
338
496
491
797
397
1021
1521
371
69
293
355
403
326
163
224
4876
752
24,311
907
807
1114
740
173
458
1286
356
541
1148
1983
3231
354
547
477
R92
470
1070
1809
374
63
298
388
420
382
147
199
5352
761
26,747
}
402 4680
463 2630
452 6550
270 3710
84 2620
270 2830
472 7040
210 2900
237 5310
201 7210
888 13,330
1137 16.210
75 3940
597 3390
- 6700
- 5420
287 2130
844 22.230
220
82
244
112
139
376
57
119
1613
414
2720
510
1140
2840
4790
2480
840
3670
2900
4100
10.265144820
MANCHESTER UNION.
1. Blackley
2. Bradford
3. Cheetham
4. Cnimpsall
5. Failsworth
6. Harpurhey
7. Ileaton, Great
8. Heaton, Little
9. Manchester, Tk, S, b. I
y. ». f S
10. Moston ,
11. Newton
12. Prestwich
Total
5455
584
8651
2910
4644
640
17C7
1103
908364
34-29
5866
5727
349140
525 18
91 1
1196 19
149 17
411 10
70 15
164 7
170 19
41061 10
aod 7
615 Id
793 8
45 575 4
1
2861
2389
2911
S020
3202
597
1
94
108
95
166
911
23
1
752
1170
2027
4025
6082
825
1
452
628
910
1878
2745
295
1
26-22
2875
3358
3667
3879
4a'3
1
118
172
297
468
438
23
1
267
234
224
181
159
138
1
294
626
630
771
808
95
13
70469
79459
108016
142026
163856
29501
1
618
614
598
615
671
232
1
1295
1784
2577
4377
6127
288
1
24
1
1811
81,153
2175
2724
2941
3180
664
92,234
124362
164130
192058
32,664
1840
260
1110
660
1060
270
1090
480
1410
1240
1280
2100
ENGLAND IK THE NINETEENTH CENTCET:
SALFORD UNION.
. Broufthton, Kmall. 1
■ndTetlow /
2. Pendleton
1. Pendlebury
|5
<!HM8, 10*41 II
POPOLITIUN.
I9II4I 2j77^ 407;*, 53.2001
i
Ara
Id
£
£.
574
960
807
1730
Id!
»30
6i43l
I2-2(P
3555
12.165
287 9
3092 3
l' 45B
3. 3',6ti
532
52o3
1363
53 7
-j _
100
213ti
369 12
1 73
-
18.2()>l
3802 11
4 4301^ 5864
PARISHES AND TOWNSHIPS NOT IN UNION.
Aldcliffe
Arkholme with Cnirood .
Ashlon uiilA 5toilda]i
iioitV
n-le-Sondi
orwick
Hulk
utrow aiUh Burrow
unulield
Cirnforlb
Claugliton
Cockerliim
Ellel. north and soulh . „
Firlelon
IS
1801. I ISM. ! 1821. 1831. ! |g41.
714 11
38 18
177 12
3469 1240
85| fi80
142 2020
99 1500
S9.ti B070
7|i 1530
576 4860
7^21 5560
, 841 690
177: 18^ 185 1840
""' ""' 442 2830
"~ 1790
1620
15,506 16,256; 18,198 2!,07e 23,235 3698' 43,490
lAXCASHIRE.
xli
PARISHES AND TOWNSHIPS NOT IN UNION— ^anfiww«L
NAMES.
Brought forward
Hornby, Tu
Hutton
Ireby
Kellet Nether
Kellet Over
Leek
Melling with Wrayton ..
Middleton
Oyerton
Poulton
Quernmore
Roberindale
Scotforth
Silverdale.
Skerton
Slyoe with Hest
Tatham Lover End ,
Tatbam Higher End ....
Thurnham '„.»,
Torrisholme
Tunstal
WartOD with Lindeth
WenningtOD
Whittington
Wray with Botton
Wyersdale Orer
Yealand Conyers
Yealand Redmayne
The above all in SouthLomdale.
Clifton
Worsley
}
Total
£
96.335
2415
1881
1363
2827
3975
1871
1499
2078
1910
4054
4544
2339
5892
467
1020
30du
4986
2693
Ponlton
1307
2860
1593
5203
4230
5195
1930
2213
2952
12428
5? •
-I
I8S09O
{
8,222 4
172 3
121 16
53 7
320 19
243 1
111 17
103 6
178 4
236 9
99 15
310 10
152 2
426
79 18
417 19
288 18
220 7
220 8
247 16
87 19
43 6
196 12
86 1
366 5
277 13
396 5
145 2
78 10
285 14
1317 14
15,513 2
POPULATION.
1801.
No.
15,506
414
168
Ireby.
300
411
219
156
161
322
423
490
229
462
171
1278
259
}
•739
363
Ponlton.
124
464
"884
626
661
196
148
612
5062
30,548
1811.
No.
16,256
420
11
100
263
464
268
188
161
305
277
471
228
466
196
1254
286
576
403
140
111
443
125
414
760
802
230
181
9041
6151
1821.
32,854
No.
18,198
477
213
115
358
531
284
210
185
344
363
672
237
579
243
1293
317
765
448
161
155
558
160
461
808
774
264
227
1168
7191
1831.
No.
21,078
383
263
109
354
446
326
200
177
336
540
605
199
557
240
1351
286
1841.
No.
22,235
318
254
145
279
508
288
195
200
390
700
556
191
643
252
1665
316
37,769
744
677
526
563
188
217
142
142
558
633
155
148
542
425
586
718
872
679
294
322
1^7
228
1277
1360
7839
8337
41,400
43,584
-^
£1
8698
128
146
107
292
368
145
100
187
315
213
300
163
340
95
C^58
161
446
343
102
64
400
59
313
303
566
139
133
428
1607
17.319
Area
In
Acres.
Acres.
43,490
2290
970
1810
1950
3100
3880
1120
1039
930
750
6550
8230
2789
1110
6519
1210
6010
1720
640
1240
2610
830
4360
5620
6900
11590
1960
820
6240
138277
Croxteth Park is in West Derby, extra parochial Population, 1801, 14; 1811, 20; 1621,30;
1831,42; 1841,57.
Beswick is in Manchester, extra-parochial. Population, 1801,6; 1811, 14; 1821,35; 1831,248;
1841, 345.
• With Ireby.
N.B. There leemi to be an error in the Fourth Report of the Poor Law Commiitloners, by which Dalton-in FnmeM,
is Inirodaeed as out of Union, for which see Ulveralon Union.
It
zlii
ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTXJRY.
Authors who have written, and Worles, vpon Lancashire. — Whitaker*t History of Whalley, 1800,
1818; the Archdeaconry of Hichmond by the same. — History of Lancasbirey by £. Baines, Esq.; the
same by J. Corry, 1823. — Fragments of the Hittory and Antiquities of Lancashire, by M. Gregson,
1817, 1823.— West's Antiquities of Furness, 1774; the same, with additions, by Close, 1805.— Leigh*s
Natural History of Lancashire, Chesliire, and the Peak, 1700. — Account of the Duchy of Lancaster,
17S5. — Directory and Gazetteer of, by £. Baines, Esq., 1824. — Lancashire Gazetteer, by J. Asten,
1808 ; the same, by Clarke, 1830 — The Directory, 1814.— A true and full Relation of the Troubles
in Lancashire, 1642. — A true Relation of a Parliamentary Victory in Lancashire, 1643. — Lancashire's
Valley of Achor, 1643 Whiuker's History of Manchester, 1771-1773 Aikin's Description of the
Country round Manchester, 1795. — Asten 's Manchester Guide, 1804, 1826. — History of the Founda-
tions in Manchester, 1830. — Wheeler's History of Manchester, 1836. — Everet's Panorama of, 1834. —
Manchester as it is, 1839. — Manual of Local Acts relating to Manchester, by G. W. Orroerod.— >
Hollingworth Macuniensis, 1839.— Timperley's Annals of Manchester, 1839.— J. Buttervorth's Trade
of. 1822. — A Description of Manchester, 1650.— Palmer's Siege of, 1642. — Guide to Manchester,
1815.— Copy of Church, School, and College Charters. — Lowe's Manchester, 1783. — Asten*a Metrical
Records of, 1822; by the same author, Manchester in the early part of the Reign of George III.
1823.— Ford's Manchester Topography, 1822.— Sketch of History of, 1794.— Collins* Remarks on
Whitaker, 177L — Percevars Observations on the State of Population of, 1775. — Chronological
History of, by J. Butterworth, 1829; improved editions, by E. Butterworth, 1832- 1834.— Enfield's
Essay towards a Hutory of Liverpool, 1774 Smithers* Liverpool, 1 S25.— Wallace's History of, 1795.
— Troughton's, bv Corry, 1810. — Charters of Liverpool, by Clegg, 1757 Corporation Report, 1833.
— Hall's Flora of Liverpool, 1839.— Holt's Agriculture of Lancashire, 1795-6. — Dickson's Survey of
Agriculture of, 1808-15.— A Sutistical Sketch of the County of l^ncaster, by £. Butterworth, 1840.
— A Burlesque View of the Lancashire Dialect, by Tim Bobbin. 1746, and other editions. — Wonderful
Discovery of Witches in Lancashire, 1613 — Clark's Account of the Town of Lancaster, 1811.-^
History of Bolton-Ie Moors, by Brown, not completed, 1821. — Statistics of Bolton, by J. Black, 1837.
—Whittle's History of Preston, 1821-1837.— History of Preston, anon.— Taylor's Description of
Preston, 1818.— Sketch of Preston Guild, 1762; Account of, 1822. »- An Historical and Descriptive
Account of Oldham, 1817-1826, by J. Butterworth ; the same, by E. Butterworth, 1832.— History
of Rochdale, by J. Butterworth, 1^28; and of the Town and Parish of Ashton* under- Lyne, by the
same, 1823-7-8.— Robinson's Description of Chorley, 1835.— Historical Notices of the Town and
Parish of Middleton, by £. Butterworth, 1840.— An Historical Description of Heywood. by E. But-
terworth, 1840.— Accounts of the Lakes: by West, 1784; Oticy. 1823; Gilpin, 1786; Mavor,l798;
Radcliffe. 1808; and others.— Hutlon*s Description of Blackpool, 1789.— History of, by Thornber,
1838. — Whittle's Description of Lytham and of Southport. — Journal of the Siege at Iiatham, 1823. —
Syer's History of Everton, 1833.— Hornby's Statistics of Winirick Parish. 1837.
In SlatUllcsl R«lxtloni, psge HI. Lancashire Baroneta, for "Sir Thomas Hesketh Fleetwood, of RnflTord Hall." iv«uf
- Kir Tlioinas Dalryraule Hcslcelh. Bart. 1761 ;" alio add to the Baronets of Lancashire, Sir William Annon, of
Bircli Hall, 1831; Sir John Barrow, of Ulverston, 1839; Sir Peirr Hetlieth Fleetwood, of Rossall Hall, and Sir
Benjamin Heywood, or Claremonl, 1838.
In Statistiral Relations, page sxiii. at Iwttom, add *'The Prcitton and Txtngrid^e Railway; and six miles of the Man-
che^ter and Sheffield past ihroogh this county." The Hasllngden Railway was never completed.
Clergy List, page siv./br " Heirs of Rev. W. Check," read « B. Booth, until 1854, then to Coll. Ch. Manchester."
Page zz. line I, last paragraph, /or *« Catholic 50," read " f».*'
ERRATA.
Page
*i, line 10,/or *' Hundreds of Blackburn and Rochdale,"
read ** Hundred of Black burn, and in Roch-
dale."
7 „ 19, for •* Parkside Suiion," read ** Newton Foun-
dry," and dele the remainder of ihe paragraph.
3«./or " 181 »," read *' I8I7."
40,/or"Oid Bailey priwn," read "New Bailey."
27, for " Grompton.*' retul •* Cromfortl."
1*1, for " Mr. Feel Ihe grandfather," read ** Mr.
Peel the falhvr."
8, for " ShelfortI," read " Siretford."
94,/pr " Undertaking." read " enclosure.*'
4tJor " or to the regularity," read '* though not
to the regularity."
77 „ 14,/or" Ashton- uuder Line was a place of great
importance," read *' sume sav was a place of
great importance/' and in ttie nestline,/or
*< soon after the Conquest," ** Legends say that
soon after the Conquest."
37
««
88
t»
44
»»
45
»f
51
t,
7tf
If
70
*»
Pajre
78 line
ib. „
ib. „
83
tf
87 „
W „
IM „
111 „
127 «
140 „
«0-2 „
o*tn „
170 „
39. /or •' Old Bank," read " Wild Bank."
33./or «• North," read " South."
34, dele ** before ibe prospect was shut out by
building," and read " commands," /or " com-
manded."
42, for '* first newspaper," read *' second aews-
paper."
M,for " Lowton," read ** Haydock."
«8./or " township," read *• town."
%6^far " Yorkshire," read" Cheshire ;" dele ** first
railed the Tame."
11, /or ■'hundred of West Derby," read" hun-
dreds of West Derby and Salford."
1 1 ,/or ** yet standing." read** recently standing."
SO.ybr *■ Ince Binndeil Church," read ** Sephton."
Itfor Lymstone." read •• Simonstone.''
4 and 8,/or <* Charles," read " Daniel.
13,/or *• 1772," read " 1727."
INDEX.
ACRINOTON, 243.
Acriagton Moss, 282.
Agecroft Bridge, 263.
Aidburgh Hall, 135.
Aintree, 140.
AMiDgham, 333.
Allerton Hall, 135.
Ailithwaite, Upper and Lower, 309, 310, 312.
AlstOD, Mr., method of instructing the blind, 54, 55.
Altcar, 142.
Allham, cotton works, 45.
Amounderness, 293; A pp. ii.
Ancoats Hall, 74.
Anglezark, mountain, 282.
Antiquiuet, 84, 148, 153. 156, 174, 185, 192, 195,
231, 234, 273, 294, 299, 304, 307.
Appleton, 137.
Ardwick Green, 36.
Arkwright, Sir Richard, factories and inventions,
13, 17, 19, 40, 41, 42, 44. 45, 157.
Arrowsmith, a priest, executed in 1628, 150.
Ashhurst Hall, 149.
Ash ton in Makerfield, 150.
Ashton, 159.
Ashton-under-Lyne, 75, 76, 77, 78.
Ashton, Messrs.. mills, 246.
Aspull Moor, 278.
Astley Church, 265; bridge, 270.
Atberton, 132.
Aughton, 142.
Back o* th* Bank, 269.
Balcarres, Earl of, 154, 277, 278 ; App. iii.
Bank Hall, 155.
Bardsea and Bardsea Park, 333.
Barrows, tumuli, etc., 87, 164.
Barrow Head, 331.
Barton, 159.
Beacons of Lancashire, 169, 329.
Becconsall and Hesketh, 148, 155.
Bede, the Venerable, 193.
Bekan's Gill, 326.
Belmont, reservoir, 273.
BickersUffe, 143, 144.
Bigger, 331.
Bigland Hall, 312.
Billinge, 150.
Birch Hall and chapel, 74.
Birkdale, 148.
Bispham, 155, 293.
Black Beck of Torver. 320.
Blackburn, 2, 197, 285; App. ii.
Blackbumsbire Forest, 178.
Black Comb mounuins, 297, 321, 322.
Blackpool, 298, 299.
Blackrod, 278.
Blackstone Edge mountain, 169, 174.
Blaesdale Forest, 4.
Blainsco Hall, 155.
Blawith, 321, 335.
Bleach-greens, 49.
Bleaching cottons and linens, 49 — 53, 59.
Blind Asylum at Manchester, 54.
Blowing Machine, 11.
Blundell Family, 140, 142; church, 140.
Blythe Hall, 146.
Bobbin, the cotton, 18; bobbin-frame, 24; bobbin
and fly-frame, 47.
Bobbin, Tim, 169—173.
Boggart-hole, or the Clough, 160—162, 182.
Bold, 137.
Bolton, 263.
Bolton -le-Moors, App. ii.
Bolton-le-Sands, 307.
Boothe, Sir Thomas, 144.
Bootle-with-Linacre, 137.
Boroughs, Parliamentary, of the Shire, App ii.
Borwick Hall, 308.
Boteler, Sir Thomas, 79.
Bowness, 315, 316.
Bradley Hall, 84.
Bradshaw Chapel and Hall, 269.
Braidshaighe, Sir William, 152.
Brandesholme, 247.
Brank, 184.
Bretherton, 155.
Bride's Chair, 308.
Bridgewater, Duke of, 74 ; canal, 7, 8.
Britons, supposed site of British towns, 84.
Brockholes, 159.
Broughton, 159 ; Broughton, Lower, 309; Broughton,
East, 310. 321.
Broughton Tower, 322, 333.
Bryn Hall, 150, 306.
Buckton Castle and beacons, 169.
Bungerley Hippin Stones, 211.
Burnley, 190.
Borscough, 143.
Bury town, 253; SirR. PeeVs works, 68 ; the borough
and representation of in parliament, App. ii.
Byron, Sir John, 165.
Calder River, 177, 182, 194, 206, 217.
Calendering. 52, 53.
Calico (tee Cotton), 4, 10—29 ; printing, 32. 50.
Canals and inland navigation, App. xxiii. xxiv.
Canoes, ancient, 148.
(/arding machine. 13.
Cartmel, 297, 309, 314; peninsula, 337.
Castlecroft, 255.
Casllehead, 309.
Castlemeer, Roman remains near, 174.
xliv
INDEX.
Catholics, Roman, 99» 147, 150, 196, 221—232,
236, 237, 253. 265b
Caton, 303.
Catterall, Rafie, 199.
Ceneteries, 115.21a.
Cbadderton, 164.
Chamber Hall, 250.
Chapel Island, 336.
Chatburn, 206; brook, 206.
Chat Moss, 7.
Cheapside, 190.
Chetham, Humphrey, college, 55, 75, 270, 272.
Cbetham's Close, 273.
Childwall, 132.
Chipping, 197.
Chorley, 45, 155, 281.
Chorlton, township of, 6; hall, 74.
Chowbent, 88.
Christianity taught in Britain by Aujrustin, Jostos,
and Paulinus, 192, 193, 196, 235, 239.
Church Coniston. 320.
Cistercian Friars of Whalley Abbey, 199.
Claife, 318.
Claughton, 299.
Clayton Hall. 7&
" Clegg the Conjurer," 171.
Clifton, 293.
Climate, remarks on the, 2, 323.
Clithero, a parliamentaiy borongh, App. ii.
Castle, 195; borough. 205.
Cliviger, 176, 183, 194, 217.
Coal-fields of Lancashire, 1, 3, 75, 100, 263, 28Z
Cocker River, 299.
Cockerham, 297, 299.
Cuckersaud Abbey, 299.
Coins, 174, 294.
Collier, John (or Tim BobUn), 170.
Collvhunt Hal], 74.
Conishead Priory, 333. 336.
ConUton Fells and Lake, 315, 318, 320; Hall, 320.
Coppul, 155.
Cottam, 159.
Cotton, 10—12.
■ manufacture, 4 ; visit to a cotton-mill, 10.
Conlton, Kast and West, 335.
Cragg, 303.
Crake River, 313. 321, 334, 335.
Crompton, Samuel, 46, 270.
Crouton, 137.
Crosby, Great and Little, 140.
Croston, 155.
Croxteth Park, 137.
Cunven's Island, Windermere. 317.
Customs, ancient, 157, 159, 173, 184,249, 263,264,
297, 308.
Dalton, 149, 318; tower, 324.
Darwen River, 282.
Dash- wheel. 51.
Deaf and Dumb School. Manchester, 54.
Derby, Earls of. 137, 235, 266, 267, 282, 299.
West, 137.
Derwent River, 156.
Devil, the, 211.
Dialect, provincial, 166, 171, 173,243,257,268,274.
Dimities, 39.
Ditton, 137.
Dodsworth and Dugdale, 308.
Doffcocker, 274.
Douglas River, 147.
Down Holland, 142.
Downes, Roger, 88.
Druidical circles and stones, 273k
Duddon River, 318.
Djneley Kno11» 18a
Eagle's Crag, in Cliviger, 177.
Easter Festival, 263, 287.
Ecclesiastical benefices, deaneriesy archdeaconries,
perpetual curacies, incumbents, patrons, parishes
and livings, episcopal jurisdiction, and ecclesiaiti-
cal courts, A pp. x to xxi.
Eccleston Church and township, 99, 136.
Edeehill Tunnel, 104.
Edisforth Hospital, 208.
Edncation of factory children, 53, 273 ; of the blind
and deaf, 54 ; in Chetham College, 55; Free
Grammar School, Manchester, 56 ; public institu-
tions for the further advancement of. 17, 265; list
of grammar schools of the county, Arr. vii. ; other
schools, viii.
Edwin, king of Northumberland, 192.
Egerton estate and cotton-mill, 273 ; village of, 26Sw
Egton with Newland, 335i.
Ellel, 299.
Elleiy, 317.
Elston, 159.
Elton, 247.
Esthwaite Water. 317, 321.
Euxton, 155, 266.
Everton, St George's church, 120.
Factory system. 5, 42, 49.
Fa|^ pies. etc. 248.
Fail bairn, engineer, 29.
Fairfax, Sir Thomas, 14&
Fairfield, 75.
Fairies, local fables of the, 161, 165.
Chapel, 168.
Farleton Coal-mine, 306.
Farnwortli Church, 137.
Farrington, 156.
Fazakerly, 137.
Fell Foot, 313.
Festivals, popular, 169, 249, 263, 264, 29?.
Finshwaite. 335.
Fishwick, 159.
Flax and linen, 10.
Fleetwood, 293.
Flookborough, 337.
Formby School, 137.
Fouldrey, the pile of, 297, 322 ; iU ruined castle, 331.
Foulness Island. 331.
Fox, George, 334.
Freckleton, 293 ; the Wyre, navigable to, 294.
Fullwood Forest, 4.
Funerals in Lancashire, 171—173, 308.
Furness, 297, 313; abbey ruins, 318, 325.
Fustians, 39, 81.
Fylde country, 293, 295.
Gallows village, 173.
Games, 249, 263, 264, 287, 288.
Garstang, 299.
Garston, 132.
Gascoigne Family, 133.
INDEX.
xlv
George, St., and the Dragon, 253.
Gerard Family, 85, 86, 306.
Glass manufacture, 91.
Glasson, 299.
Good Friday, 287.
Goshen House, and the Unsworth family, 252.
Gosford, Nicholas, 211.
Grant, Messrs., of Ramsboltom, 244.
Greenhalgh Castle, 299.
Family, 247, 248.
Green Heys, 37.
Grimsargh, 159.
Gruithwaite, in Satterthwaite, 318.
Habergham Eaves, 185.
Hades Hill, 169.
Haigh Hall, 277.
Haigbe, or Hawe, 154.
Haighton, 159.
Hale Hall, 134.
Hall, 132.
HalUin-the-Wood, 269.
Halliwell, 265.
Halls, old, of Lancashire. 73, 88. 133, 134, 148— 155>
174, 175, 208, 219, 233, 247, 269, 275, 323.
Halsall, 142.
Halton, 299, 206, 307.
Hamilton, Dukes of. 86, 299.
Hargreaves, James, 43, 290.
■ p of Mosney, 62.
, of Whalley, 203,
Harrington Family, 310, 312.
Hartshead, 79.
Harwood, 265.
Haslingdeo, 243.
Haverthwaite, 335.
Hawcoat, 330.
Hawkshead, 317, 318.
Haydock, 150.
Healey Hall, 167, 168.
Heaton, 275.
Henry VI., 211.
Hensbaw, Mr. Thomas, 54.
Herethorn Brook, 2U6.
Hermitage, Whalley, 204.
Hesketh and Becconsal, 148, 155.
Hest Bank, 307, 308, 312, 336, 338.
Heversham, 303.
Heysham, 297.
High Moor, 282.
Highs, Thomas, reed-maker, 40. 88.
Hindley Hall, 150; chapel, 152, 275.
Hodder River, 21 7 ; bridges, 220.
Hoghton Tower, on the hill, 282.
Holland Family, 149.
Hollinhey Clough, 189.
Holcome Hill, 246.
Holker, 309; hall, 310, 336.
Holm Island, 309.
Holme Chapel, 183.
Holmeswood House, 148.
Holt Family, 175.
Honors and Fees, App., iii.
Hoole, 155.
Horelaw, 189.
Hornblower's Hill, 169.
Horaby, 303.
Uorrock Hall, 155.
Horwich, 267, 275.
Houffhton, West, 275.
Houldsworth, Mr. Henry, 47.
Howard Hall, 17a
Howick, 156.
Hulme, 8 ; Hall, 73.
Hulton, 273.
Humphrey Head, 312.
Hunders£ield, 173.
Hutton, 156.
Huyton, 837.
Hydrocephalus among cattle, 181.
Ince Blundell, 140.
Hall and Green, 275.
India cotton, 11.
Ingleborough Hill, 217, 304.
Ingol, 159.
Irk River, 32, 164.
Iron Works, 8, 70, 130—132, 164, 310, 313,
Irwell River, 32, 128, 241, 255, 261.
Jesuits, 221, et teq*
Keir, or Keer River, 308.
Kellet, Nether and Over, 307.
Ken or Kent, fording of the, 308 ; river, 297, 303.
Kersal Hall, 263.
Kirkby School, 137.
Ireleth, 322.
Kirkham, 293.
Knott HUl, 169.
Knowsley Park, 137.
Lakes and Scenery, 2, 313, 316, 319.
Lancashire: — ^its extent, boundaries, resources, and
wealth, 1 ; palatine and offices, 4, tee App. i. ;
hundreds of, App. i.; old baronial castles, 255;
coal-fields, 3, 100, 150, 263, 282 ; coast of, 106»
297; villages and cottages of, 190; domestic
economy, customs, etc., 166, 196, 266, et passim,
Lancashire witches, 146, 210 ; Lancashire plot,
153, 154; dialect, 166, 171, 173, 243, 257, 268,
274; manners, 242; statistical relations of this
county, see App. i. to xxiv
Lancaster, duchy and palatinate of, 4, 207, tee App.i.;
duchy records, App. i.
Lancaster and Preston canal, 294 ; Lancaster, town
and parish of, 299; parliamentary borough, App. ii. ;
land-tax and rental of the county, App. vii«
Langridge Fell, 194, 216.
Lathe manufacturers, 35.
Lathom House, 138, 144.
Legeods, 151, 177—182, 208, 211.
Legh Family, 80«
Leigh, 87, 310.
Leighton Hall, 308.
Leven River, 309, 313 ; sands, 313, 334, 336.
Leyland, 155, 159, 281.
Limestone, 206, 307.
Lindal, 308, 310.
Lindeth, 338.
Linen yarn, 39.
Litherland, 140.
Littleboroogh, 174.
Liverpool lUulroad, 87, 100— 132 ; the parliamentary
representation of, 102, 105; see App. p. ii. ;
boundary of the borough, 102; environs and halls
near the city, 132, el seq.
xlvi
IKDBX.
Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 7, 100.
Locomotive engines, 7, 130—132.
LoDgton, 156.
Lonsdale, 2, 299.
Loom, 25.
Lostock Tower, 274.
LowfieM House, 216.
Lowick Hall, 321.335.
Lowton, 87.
Loynd and her witches, 177 — 180.
Lune River, 2, 297.
LuDti 140.
Lydiate 1 ownship and Abhey, 142.
Lyiharo, 293.
Machinery employed in the manufactnre of calicoes,
53.
MaghuU, 142.
Magistrates, commission of the peace, A pp. ▼.
Manchester, 3 — 75 ; its representation in psrKament,
Arr. ii.
Manchester and Liverpool Railway, 7, 87, 100, 101.
Manriggs, 335.
Manufactures of Lancashire, 4, 10 — 48, 81, 246.
Market Towns, enumeration of, A pp. iii.
Marton, Great and little, 299.
Mawdsley, 155.
Mayfield, 53 ; calico printing, 61.
Mearley Brook, 206.
Mechanical contrivances, 10.
Medlock River, 32, 164.
Melling, 142, 300, 306.
MeoU, North, 147.
Mersey River, 2, 7, 79, 106, 108.
Mertoo, or Martin- ftleer, 148.
MicbaePs, St.. 293.
Middleton, 162.
Militia, App. vii.
Millstooe^grit, 3.
Milnrow, 170.
Milnthorpe. 170. 303, 307.
Mitton Magna, 216; Little Mitton Hall, 219;
Mitton pvish, 197 ; Little Mitton chapel, 199.
Molyneuz Family, 140.
Monasteries, 146, 183. 191—204, 311.
Monastic ruins, 149, 318—328.
Monk Coniston, 318.
Monstone-Edge, 169.
Morecombe Bay, 296, 289, 307, 836.
Mosley, 79.
Family, 73.
Mothering Sunday, 248.
Mottram, 170.
Mountains, hills, etc., 2, 169, 176, 195, 217, 297,
303,307,319,321.
Mule-spinning, 20 ; Roberts' mules^ 21 ; Crompton's
mnle, 46.
Music, 65.
Myerscough Forest, 4.
Nab's Hill, 194.
Nasmyth and Gaskell's Foundiy, 7.
Naze Point, 294.
Nobility and Gentry, and ancient families, App. iii. iv.
Nethertott, 140.
Newby Bridge, 309, 313.
Newspapers, App. viii.
Newton, 3, 86, 87.
Newton Moor, 170.
Nibthwaite, 320. 335.
Norris, Sir Hugh, 153.
Sir William. 133.
Oat-cake, 166.
Old Bank Hill, 78.
Oldham, 164, 86} blue-coat school, 54; parlia-
mentary borough, App. ii.
Old Man Mountain, 3, 297, 320.
Ordsall Hall, 73.
Ormskirk, 3, 140.
Orrel and Ford. 140, 150.
Hall, 150.
Orrcll, 270.
Osmotherly, 335.
Oswald of Northumbria, 84.
Padiham, 190.
Parbold, 155.
Park, mansion, 261, 263.
Parkside Railway Station, 7.
Parr Coal-pits, 100.
Paslew, abbot of Whallcy, 169.
Patricroft Foundry, 7.
PauHous, 192, 239.
Peat- mosses, 3, 76.
Peel (the late Sir Robert), his works at Altham, 45;
at Bury. 60, 68 ; house, 290 ; Peel Cross, or Peel
Fold, 290, note J Sir Robert PeeVs birth-place, 251.
Peg o' th' Well, 208.
Pemberton, 150.
Pendle Hill. 2, 169, 220, 195, 197, 216.
Forest, 177, 181.
Penigent Hill, 217.
Penketh, 137.
Penwortham, 156, 294.
Pepperland Head, 309.
Pile Castle, 321.
Plumpton, 164.
Population of Lancashire, 1.
Potato, 183.
Poulton, 293.
PouIton-leFylde, 295.
Power-loom, 28, 190.
Prescot, 99, 136.
Preston, 156—159, 293; App. ii.
Prestwich Ciough, 164. 261 ; church, 164, 261.
Pretender, the, 74, 153, 157, 187.
Primrose Cotton-works, 52.
Prisons, sessions, county officers and county expen-
diture, App. ix.
Puritans, 210, note,
Quernmore Forest, 4.
Radclifie (or Bed-cUff), 257, 259, 264.
Railroads of Lancashire, 306, 338.
•»* General Table of all the Railroads, their length,
coUt elc»f App. xxiii.
Rainhill, 137.
Ramsbottom, 245.
Rampside, in Furness, 318; islands near, 331, 332.
Raven bead, 89.
Read Hall, 197.
Red Hill, 86.
Red-Moss, 275.
Ribble River, 2, 148, 150, 156, 158, 206, 208, 217,
232, 233, 234, 282, 293.
INDEX.
xlvii
Ribblesdale, 194, 232,^(34.
RibbletoD, 159.
Ribchesler, 197, 231. 232, 240.
Rigby, Colonel, 145, 155.
Ringley, 263.
RivingtoD, 279.
Roach River, 255.
Robert Hall, 306.
Robin Hood. 169, 174.
Robinson, Giles, 177—180.
Roby, 136, 137.
Rochdale, 2, 174, 197; town, 164; parliamentary
representation of, A pp. ii
Rock, fort, and lighthouse, 129.
Roe Island. 331.
Roman antiquities, roads, etc. 2, 84, 156, 174, 190>
231, 234, 237, 294. 299, 304, 307, 310.
Roscoe, Mr., 126, 135.
Rossendale Forest, 243.
Rufford, 147, 155.
Runcorn Gap, 89, 137.
Rush-bearing Festival, 248—250. 308.
Rusland, 335.
Salford, 33, 159, 264; parliamentary borough,
A pp. ii.
Salesbury Hall, 233,
Sale Wheel. 234.
Salwich Hall, 293.
Samlesbury, 291.
Sands and Quicksands. 307, 308.
Sandhills, 143. 148.
Sand Scale Havirs, 321.
Saukey, Great, 137.
Viaduct. 87.
Sattertkwaite, 318.
Scarisbrick, 143, 144.
Schistose formation, 3.
Schools, enumeration of public and private, App.
vii. viii.
Scutching Machine, 1 1 .
Sea- bathing and Watering-places, 148, 293, 296.
Scfton. or Sephton church and parish, 140 ; interior
of the church and monuments. 141 ; manor, 140.
Segantii, 2.
Shaw-Brook sulphur spring, 206.
Sheep Island. 331.
Shirehead Chapel, 299.
Silk manufactures, 10, 48, 69.
Simnel Sunday. 248.
, Lambeit. 322, 333.
Siroonswood, 137.
Skelmersdale, 143, 144.
Skei with, 318.
Slaidburn, 197.
Slyne with Hest, 307.
Smiihills Hall, 270, 274.
Southport. 148.
South worth, Sir Thomas, 291.
Speke Hall, 133
Spinning Jenny, 43, 88.
Spodden River, 168; valley, 169.
Spring Side, 247.
St. Helens. 89—99, 137; environs. 100; plate and
German glass manufacture, 89 — 100.
Stand, near Bolton. 260. 263.
Standish Hall and church, 154; Standish gale,
Wigan, 153.
Stanley family, 80, 85, 137, 255, 322. See Derby.
Staveley, 309, 313.
Stayley Bridge, 75, 78.
Steam-engine. 29, 30, 47. 153.
Steam-machinery. 8, 70, 130, 131, 132.
Steam-vessels, 108, 130.
Steaner Bottom, 174.
Slonyhurst College. 196, 221. 222—229; regents
and professors, 223 ; terms and ^stems of educa-
tion, 224; the church and high altar, 228, 229;
library, 229.
Storrs Hall, 309. 314, 316.
Strutt, Mr. Jedediah, 42.
Stydd Chapel and Almshouse, 235, 236; Saxon
arch, 238.
Stubley Hall, 175.
Suberthwaite, 335.
Sutton. 99.
Swart Moor, 333, 334.
Tarleton, 148.
Tatham, 303. 306.
Thieveley Pike. 169.
Thornton, 140.
Thrutch. 167, 168.
Tildesley, Sir John, 87, 152.
Tithe Commutations, App. zxi.
Todmorden, town and vale of, 175, 176.
Tonge. 270.
TooierHill, 169.
Tottington, 243 ; manor of, 255.
Torver, 335.
Towneley Park. 185; John, Richard, and Charles
Towneley, 187; Towneley marbles. 187; Sir
John Towneley. 188.
Tozteth Park, Liverpool. 103.
Tunstall, 303, 306.
Turton Church and Tower, 265, 270 ; traditions, 271,
273; Turton height, 272; the SculUHouse, 273;
Humphrey Chetham, 270. 272; Turton-higher-
end, and British antiquities, 272.
Twa-Lads-Hill, 278, 281.
Ulnes, 155; Ulnes Walton, 155.
Ulverston Sands, 307—313, 318; church, 334;
market and fairs, 335 ; parish. 335.
Unsworth. 252 ; Thomas Unsworth slays the Dragon.
252.
Upholland, 3. 149; traditions, antiquities, priory.
149; tower and old church, 150; vicinity, 150.
Urmston. 170.
Urswick, 333 ; manorial customs, 333.
Waddington, 213—216.
Waddow Hall, 208; gallery of portraits, etc. 211.
Walmesley Church, 243, 265; beacon built by
Queen Elizabeth, 243; beautiful tower, built by
W. and C. Grant, esquires, 244.
Walney. Isle of, 318, 321, 324, 330; Nor.h Scale,
331; Bigger hamlet, 331; harvests, 331; wells,
332 ; lighthouse, 332.
Walton Church and School, 137; mansions, 140.
Walton-le-Dale, 156, 282.
Walton Hall, 311.
Walton-on-the-Hill. 137.
Warden Hall, 156.
Wardie HUl, 169.
Wardley Hall, 88.
: 9'
xlviii
INDEX.
Warrington, a parliamentary borough. 3, 79, A pp. ii. ;
steam carriages, 7 : the yerilanum of the Romans,
79 ; garrisoned by the forces of Charles T., 79 ;
church, 79; market-place, 81 ; cotton and fustian
loanufaclum, 81 — 83 ; literature and newspapers,
83 ; literati and academy, 84 ; environSp 84.
Warton Church, 293. 303, 307, 308. 338.
Wavertree Chapelry, 132, 124 ; hall, 134.
Weld, Cardinal, 230.
Wenning Brook, 305.
Westerham Mountain, 338.
Whalley Parish, its ancient extent and constituents,
197; '*the White Church under the Uieh," 197 ;
description of the present church, 191, 197;
village and environs, 194, 205 — 240; Swan inn,
190; remains of Whalley Abbey, 169, 191—204;
ancient crosses, preaching of Paulinus, etc. 192,
193; Little Mitton chapelt 199; ancient stalls,
198; abbots. G rectory de Norbury, 202; Paslew,
last abbot, 169, 201 ; hermitage, 204.
Whiston, 137.
Whitaker Family ; — Thomas Dunham W., and Dr.
W. 183, 184; Dr. Whitaker, historian of Whalley,
2, 167, 172. 176, 184, 185, 199, 215, 235, 286,
292; his map, 167.
Whittington. 307.
Widness, 137.
Wigan, parish and manor of, coal and manufac-
tures, 151 ; borough, tapestry, and historical
events, 152. See App. ; charitable institutions,
Standish'gate and Mab's-cross, 153; Aclories,
fairs, and markets, 153.
Windermere Lake, 313.
Windle, 99, 136.
Wtodleshaw Abbey, 136.
Winster Rivulet, 309, 313.
Windy Bank, 174.
Winstanlev Coal-mines, 150.
Winter Hill. 231.
Winwick, 84—86, 150.
Wiswall Moor, 194, 240.
Witches of Lancashire, their incantations, 177, J 79,
210. 211 ; the witch Loynd, 177; Elizabeth Sow.
themes of Pendle Forest, 181, note; Margaret
Johnson, the subject of a play entitled *<The
Witches of Lancashire,'* 180; confessions and
execution of poor old women, 180, 207.
Women, beauty of the lAncashire, 146, 180, notet
246; styled Lancashire witches, 146, 180, 210;
a moity for women, 166.
Woolton Chapelry, 132; hall, 136.
\\ orsley Hall, 3, 88 ; Elizeus de Workesley, or Wors-
ley, and traditions of this hero of Worsley, 88.
Wraysholme Tower, 310.
Wyre River. 293, 295, 299 ; its estuary, 297.
Wyersdale Forest, 4.
Yarrow Rivor, 155.
Yealand, 303.
THE END.
LONDON:
Piiolcd b> Manning Mod Mason, Ivy l<jine, St. Paul's.
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